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FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE 



A COLLECTION OF 



MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED 
ENTERTAINING GAMES 

FOR 

©benings at l^ome anU g^ocial parties; 

J 

LUCRETIA PEABODY HALE 

AUTHOR OF "the PETERKIN PAPERS," ETC. 

ILLUSTRATED 




f^o 




BOSTON 

TICKNOR AND COMPANY 

211 Ermcnt Street 

1889 



\ 



&^: 



Copyright, 1888, 
By Ticknor and Company. 



All rights reserved. 



John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. 



.-^ 



\\\' 



n/" 



V 



NOTE. 



These Papers were originally prepared, with 
the help of a friend, for the pages of " Good 
Housekeeping," and are now repubHshed, with 
many changes and additions. 

L. P. H. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



FIKST BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Pagb 
Buz^Fiz. — Historical Pictures. — Five Points. — 
Anagrams. — German Constitution. — Riddle. — 
Russian Scandal 11 



SECOND BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Mosaics. — Tea-Kettle Game. — Essay. — Writing 
Sonnets. — Hanging. — Three Lives. — Conun- 
drum 27 



THIRD BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Verbarium. — Charade. — Theatrical Adjectives. — 
Conundrum. — 'T was I. — How do you Go ? — 
Idiot's Joy. — Solutions of Anagrams ..... 43 



FOURTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Criticisms. — Literati. — Answer to Charade. — Co- 
nundrum. — Charade. — Skeleton Story ... 59 



VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



FIFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Page 
Doublets. — Tierce. — Conundrum. — Minister's Cat. 
— Alliteration. — Riddle. — Mrs. Plinlimmins's 
Tea 72 



SIXTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Answer to Riddle. — Charade. — Crambo. — Comet 

Trick. — Dumb Crambo. — Wiggles .... 87 



SEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Word-Making. — Hide in Sight. — Stop. — Solutions 
to Doublets. — Going to Jerusalem. — Gorilla . 101 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Potato Race. — Meal-Bag Race. — Three-Legged 
Race. — Bean -Bag Contest. — Clothes -Pins. — 
Shouting Poets. — Quotations. — Conundrums. — 
Charade. — Problems. — Acted Solution of Prob- 
lems 114 



NINTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

A BALLAD EVENING. 

Writing Ballads. — Acted Ballads. — The Decorative 
Sisters. — The Dirge of the Tadpoles. — The 
Falls of Niagara. — Dream of Fair Women. — 
Description of Acting Ballads 132 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vll 

te:n^th bundle of fagots. 

EVENING OF PROVERBS. 

Page 
Cayenne. — Shouting Proverbs. — Illustrated Pro- 
verbs. — Put in a Proverb, — Acting Proverbs. 

— Answer to Charade 147 

ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Alphabet Story. — New Alliterations. — An Austrian 
Army. — Written Geography. — I Love My Love. 

— VHio Are You ? — V\^ho Am I ? — Doubt It. — 
Patent Medicines 161 

TW^ELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Queries. — Twenty Questions, — Clumps ; or, the 
Two Captains. — Hunt the Feather. — Buried 
Cities. — Initials. — Riddle. — Answer to Riddle. 

— Pass the Quarter 1 78 

THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Grabouge. — Three - Handed Whist. — Jacoby. — 
Boarded. — Domino Whist. — Kopak. — Photo- 
graph Whist. — Shadow Pantomime. — Eyes Puz- 
zle. — Magical Music. — Fling the Towel ... 196 

FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Metamorphosis. — Farmyard. — Sapolio. — Travel- 
ling Alphabet. — Whispers. — Epitaphs. — Novel. 

— Impromptu Newspaper. — ^ Beasts, Birds, and 
Fishes. — Cat's Concert . 213 



VlU TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Page 
Cum-je-cum. — Apprentice my Son. — Capping Verses. 
— The Farmer. — Johnny's Trade. — Barberry 
Bush. — Ancestors. — Throw a Light. — United 
States Mails. — Stage Coach. — Uncle Sam. — 
Four Fans of Five 232 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Composite Photograph. — Cento Verses. — Conse- 
quences. — Symphonious Verses. — What Is My 
Thought Like ? — Acting Charades. — Games of 
Patience. — Spanish Backgammon. — Farewell . 251 






FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE, 



THE FAGOT PARTY. 

THIS name is given to an entertainment, to 
which each member of the company in- 
vited must come prepared with some game, story, 
riddle, or song for the amusement of the rest. 

Such a series of entertainments was carried on 
by a company of friends who had long been in 
the habit of meeting often. The families who 
composed this lively set lived in one of the de- 
lightful suburbs of Boston, all but the Brunton 
family, who passed their winters in Boston. 

The Brunton family were well known in Bos- 
ton, as living in an ever-open and hospitable 
mansion, welcoming friends and strangers with 
genial cordiality, and very glad to share in any 
social amusement, even though it involved fre- 
quent excursions into the suburbs. 

The Fagot-parties introduced by this collection 
of friends brought out a variety of games and 
amusements, new and old, which are given here, 



10 



FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 



with the suggestions and additions of the merry 
party as they gave them a trial. 

For a better understanding of the different 
characters that appear in these pages, we give 
the following list of — 

DRAMATIS PERSONS. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fortescub. 

Tom Their oldest son. 

^ } Their daughters. 

Bessie ) ^ 

Mr. and Mrs. Chester. 

Sally Their daughter. 

Arthur ) 

Jack ) 
Mr. and Mrs. Brunton. 

Aunt Cecilia . Sister to Mr. Brunton ) 



Their sons. 



Sister to Mrs. Brunton i 

. . Sons of Mr. and Mrs. Brunton. 

Daughters of Mrs. Brunton, devoted to 
Art, tut much interrupted, — Aspa- 
sia, with work on associated charities ; 
Angelina, on philanthropic commit- 
tees. 

^ „ -V Students in Boston University, 

Miss Rose Grafton^ 

Miss Lester 



Aunt Maria 

Eustace 

Hector 



Angelina 

ASPASIA 



Mr. Erastus 



Mrs. Owens. 
Cecilia . . 
Rodney 



> passing the winter at the 
} Bruntons^ . 

Friend of Eustace Brunton, also spend- 
ing the wifiter at the Bruntons*. 



. Her daughter, friend of Sally Chester. 
. Her son. 

Other Friends, Mr. Preston, of Philadelphia ; Mr. 
Wyllis; Mr. Jones; the Smiths, etc. 



FIRST BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Buz-Fiz. — Historical Pictures. — Five Points. — 
Anagrams. — German Constitution. — Riddle. — 
Russian Scandal. 

MRS. FORTESCUE begged to have the first 
party. She had suddenly discovered, in 
the Christmas holidays, that Mr. Fortescue 
needed just such entertainments for his even- 
ings. He had been very much better during the 
last few weeks. Even the varied Thanksgiving 
and Christmas fare had not disagreed with him, 
nor given him his usual dyspepsia. She felt sure 
it was because he had slept so well ; and he had 
slept well because he had passed his evenings in 
an agreeable and lively manner, instead of going 
into his library to bother over his accounts, or 
finish up some business paper. 

" That is just the way with Mr. Chester," said 
his wife. " He reads us a little out of the even- 
ing papers till he gets stranded on the financial 
page, when he carries it off to his office, — for 



12 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

his room is such a business place, we can't honor 
it with the name of * library ' — " 

" Leaving mamma and me," interrupted her 
daughter Sally, " to gape over a game of ' Pa- 
tience' that we have played the last hundred 
years — " 

" Oh ! you need n't play the same game every 
night," interrupted Mrs. Fortescue, " if you will 
only get ' Dick's Games of Patience,' — for of 
course you have Mrs. Cheney's book. What 
should I do without them when Clara goes off 
to her parties ? " 

Everybody interrupted each other in this 
lively circle, so it is useless to try to give all 
of this conversation. It is sufficient to say that 
they agreed upon the spot that they were just 
the people to have a Fagot-party, and that the 
first meeting should be at Mrs. Fortescue's. 

" And do let us have the Bruntons join us," 
exclaimed Mrs. Chester. 

" The more the merrier ; and Aspasia and 
Angelina will draw us such lovely historical pic- 
tures. You know we have not tried them yet." 

" I believe the worse they are drawn, the bet- 
ter fun," exclaimed Clara Fortescue. "But it 
will be something to have a few pictures that 
mean something, done by an artist, if only for 
contrast.'* 



FIRST BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 13 

So it was that the Fagot-party was appointed. 
The gentlemen had growled a little. Here was 
this so-called entertainment, invented appar- 
ently as a recreation for them to refresh their 
minds, weary from business, and yet they were 
now expected to contribute to an amusement of 
the most intellectual sort. 

Clara Fortescue exclaimed : " But you know 
you are to bring anything, Mr. Chester. You 
always have a conundrum on hand, new or old ; 
you surely can always bring us a conundrum." 

And so the Fagot Party was started. It was 
a full assemblage that appeared in Mrs. Fortes- 
cue's delightful parlors, and everybody came at 
once, so that it was difficult to calm the animated 
chatter of the greetings. 

" This will never do," exclaimed Mrs'. Fortes- 
cue ; " the modest person who is to bring out our 
first ' Fagot ' will never have the strength of mind 
to begin, and I must call you all to order." 

With the help of Mr. Fortescue a silence was 
created, and the " modest person " proved to be 
Clara Fortescue. 

" We played this game last summer," she ex- 
plained ; " I believe one of my friends invented, 
or at least improved upon, it. It is called 



14 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

"Buz-Fiz. 

" This is an amplification of a game that I dare- 
say you all know under the name of ' Buz.' In 
Buz, the game consists in counting up from one, 
each player giving a number in turn ; but when- 
ever the number seven appears, or any of its 
multiples, the word ' Buz ' must be substituted. 
We used to learn a great deal of arithmetic 
playing it. Any one who fails in doing this is 
dropped from the game. A few keep on long 
enough to reach the seventies, which must be 
gone through with, ' Buz one. Buz two,' and so 
on, till seventy-seven is reached as ' Buz-buz.' 

" In Buz-Fiz the game is far more complicated. 
' Buz ' is still required whenever seven shall 
appear ; but at every recurrence of three or its 
multiple, the word ' Quack ' must' be substituted, 
and for five and its multiple, ' Fiz ' must be used. 
Fifteen would be ' Quack-fiz,' twenty- one would 
be ' Quack-buz.' But besides all these compli- 
cations, at every return of eleven or its multiple, 
instead of eleven, ' Cock-a-doodle-doo ' is re- 
quired. The game becomes very animated ; there 
are few who survive the first twenty, and only 
one or two are apt to struggle on for ' Quack-fiz ' 
at thirty, and the line of thirties, all beginning 
with ' Quack.' Of course, if any person omits 



FIRST BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 15 

any one of the multiples of a number which re- 
quires a changed number, he fails, and is dropped. 
When fifty is reached, each number must begin 
with a ' Fiz.' The game begins in counting in 
this way, each person in turn giving a number : 
' One, two. Quack ; four, Fiz, Quack, Buz ; eight, 
Quack, Fiz, Cock-a-doodle-doo, and so on ; Quack 
coming in again for twelve, also for thirteen, as 
it contains the figure three ; fourteen is Buz, and 
fifteen Quack-Fiz, — the smaller number always 
coming first. 

" I am sure I shall lose my head at it,'' ex- 
claimed Mrs. Chester ; " do put me at the end of 
the row, that I may learn how before it reaches 
me." 

By the time Mrs. Chester's turn came, so many 
had failed and dropped out that she retreated too, 
and after the fifties only a small number were 
left, Hector Brunton, Cecilia Owens, and Rod- 
ney breaking down the last. For this game the 
party had seated themselves in an irregular line, 
spreading round the room, and at the last 
break-down and the close of the game Mrs. 
Fortescue appeared, provided with pencils and 
slips of paper. 

" I understand," she said, " that Aspasia Brun- 
ton will teach us the game of Historical Pictures, 
which they have played so much at the Bruntons', 



16 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE, 

and which we have heard about, but never have 
learned how to play." 

" It may all be very well for the Brunton fam- 
ily," said Mr. Fortescue, " which is a family of 
artists, each member having his or her own pri- 
vate studio ; but the rest of us ought to be allowed 
to sit by and look on." 

" Not at all," said Mrs. Fortescue, who had 
meanwhile placed comfortable little tables for 
writing near everybody. "You will all be sur- 
prised to discover your hidden talents." 

" Indeed," said Aspasia, " you will all find it 
an agreeable amusement to make 

"Historical Pictures. 

" Each one of the company must make a sketch 
(no matter how poor it is ; the more absurd the 
drawing, the greater the merriment) of some 
well-known historical event, such as the Landing 
of the Pilgrim Fathers, the First Gun Fired on 
Fort Sumter, Sir Walter Raleigh Spreading his 
Cloak for Queen Elizabeth to step upon, etc., 
etc. ; or any event of the day may be chosen. 
The papers are then passed around the circle to 
the left, and each one makes a guess as to what 
the subject of the picture may be. This guess he 
writes down at the bottom of the sheet, folds the 
paper, so as to conceal what he has written, and 



FinST BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 



17 



passes it to his neighbor. "When each sketch 
has been passed all round the circle, every one 
takes his own, announces what subject he at- 
tempted to delineate, and reads the guesses 
written below. \ They are often amusingly far 
from the mark." 

So they all agreed when the various efforts 
appeared. These created the greatest amuse- 
ment, and the efforts of those who knew nothing 
of drawing proved often very effective. Some 
most remarkable subjects were represented. Mr. 
Chester's picture of his wife trying to dpaw an 
Historical Picture was pronounced admirable. 




18 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

We give a representation of one of the pictures 
which was guessed right by a large number of the 
party, though it returned to its originator with 
some mistaken guesses, — one of the Pilgrim 
Fathers, another, the Landing of Cortez. Many, 
however, detected in the palm-trees and the proud 
air of the leader stepping upon the shore that it 
was the Landing of Christopher Columbus. 

Arthur, who had started upon reading the 
-^neid in school, and had got as far as the sec- 
ond book, made a picture of 
the wooden horse invented by 
the Greeks and taken into 
Troy. He selected the sub- 
ject because he thought it 
would be easier to draw a 
wooden horse than a real one, 
and he prided himself upon 
representing the whole thing 
so that it would be easily understood. He even 
ventured to add a picture of Helen fleeing from 
the Greeks, which must be correct, as he traced 
it from the picture in the notes at the end of his 
school-book. What was his horror to find that 
his father was the only one who recognized his 
picture ! His paper as it came back to him read 
thus : — 




FIRST BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 19 

" My toy-liorse on wheels. Bridget afraid of 
it." (This was his younger brother Jack's guess.) 

" New invention of double bicycle." (Eustace 
Brunton's jeering suggestion.) 

" Equestrian statue of Washington in Boston. 
Washington stolen by burglars, who escape." 
(Mr. Fortescue's guess). 

" Dido running away from Virgil." (Older 
sister, who had seen Arthur examine his J^neid, 
and supposed the female figure must be Dido.) 

" Wooden horse taken into Troy." (His 
father's guess.) 

" Iphigenia running away from the funeral 
pile." (Angelina Brunton's guess.) 

" First specimen of carving in wood, with fright 
of mother of artist." (Rodney Owens.) 

" Jack frightening Lucy with his wooden horse 
on wheels." (His mother's guess.) 

" Lady afraid of a horse who has wheels in- 
stead of heels." (Mrs. Fortescue.) 

" Beautiful piece of sculpture that alarms those 
who see it." 

This last guess was by young Cecilia Owens, 
whom Arthur much admired, and who was very 
anxious not to hurt his feelings ; and perhaps it 
cut him more than all. His mother in vain tried 
to soothe him by representing that they were not 
all as well acquainted with history as he, and 



20 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

could not be expected to guess right. His artis- 
tic vanity was deeply touched, until his father 
pointed out that all the guessers had discovered 
that he had made a picture of a horse, and a 
wooden horse too ; and Cecilia's guess of a 
" beautiful piece " of sculpture was so much 
lauded that he was calmed, especially when his 
sister Sally's picture of Cinderella putting on 
the glass slipper afterwards was pronounced 
altogether too plain and too easily guessed, so 
that Arthur could take credit to himself for 
his artistic vagueness. 

As Mrs. Fortescue had her paper all ready, the 
next Fagot offered by Eustace Brunton was directly 
explained, and the game played. It was called 

Five Points, or Rice Game. 

Put together as many sheets of note-paper as 
there are persons who are to play. Scatter on 
the upper one at randon five kernels of rice. 
Prick with a pin, without disturbing the rice, 
five holes through the spots where the rice has 
fallen. You will thus have a number of sheets 
of paper, each containing five pin-holes arranged 
in the same order. 

The game consists in each person drawing a 
figure which shall come within the points, using 
one for the head, two for the feet, and two for 



FIRST BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 



21 



the hands. The illustration gives some exam- 
ples drawn on a small scale, showing the variety 
of figures which can be made. The figures, in 






fact, are larger as the kernels of rice will fall at 
greater distances. 

" While you are puzzling your brains over 
this," said Mrs. Chester, " you may as well 
try my Fagot. It is only an anagram that 
none of us have been able to guess. I have 
worked over it three evenings. The word 
given me is ' Toadspine,' and I can make 
everything else out of it but a word." 

Mrs. Chester gave a description of this game. 



22 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Anagrams. 

This game is played as follows: The letters 
which form some word are made into a quite 
different word, or a short sentence, if possible, 
and the players are required to find out the 
original word. 

" The trouble of these anagrams," said Hector 
Brunton, " is that they are often given to you 
spelled wrong. Now, I spent half an evening 
over ' Florence Nightingale ' as an anagram, but 
was bothered because I was given ' Flit on charm- 
ing angel,' instead of ' cheering angel,' and so I 
had not ee's enough." 

" Now you have told us," said Sally Chester ; 
" but then I never should have guessed." 

Cecilia Owens brought for her Fagot a new 
game of "• Patience," called " Constitution," that 
is quite different from the game so called in 
Dick's " Book of Patience," she explained. " It 
came from my German book, and I am so fond of 
it I play it every night. You might call it the 

"German Constitution. 

" You begin by laying down eight cards in a 
row, then you leave a space for another row, 
and lay out eight more cards below. From this 
lower row take any card that ranks one higher 



FIRST BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 



23 



than a card in the upper row, regardless of suit. 
For instance, move this four of spades from the 
lower row, and place it under the three of clubs 
in the upper row ; the five of diamonds must go 
under the four of diamonds ; the seven of hearts 
must go under the six of clubs ; and so on. 





4- 4- 

4. + 

4- 4- 


4* 
4- 
4- 


♦ ♦ 

♦ ♦ 




B 




♦ ♦ 

♦ ♦ 




¥ ♦ 



# ^ 



♦ ♦ 




4 4 







These cards are to form the foundation-cards, or 
' starters,' as I call them, for a series of families, 
to be built up without regard to suit. But they 
cannot be built upon till the whole middle row 
has been filled by cards from below ; and you see 
we now have three gaps, — you want an eight, a 
two, and another seven. You must then deal 
out eight more cards in the lower row, putting 
one on this king, one in the next gap, in the 
next, on the ace, and so on. But you cannot use 
any of these cards till all the eight cards are laid 
down ; then use from them any card that can fill 



.24 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

the gaps. When this middle row of foundation- 
cards is complete, and not till then (you may 
have to deal out the eight cards a number of 
times), pile up in ascending sequence, not fol- 
lowing suit, finishing each pile by using the card 
just above it in the upper row. Two packs of 
cards are required." 

While Cecilia was describing this, Mrs. For- 
escue had brought a box of letters to help those 
who were interested in making out Mrs. Ches- 
ter's anagram ; and some of them busied them- 
selves with " Table-ray," which is a very puzzling 
transposition of letters, and it is said, so Mr. 
Chester declared, that Queen Victoria sat up ail 
night to guess the answer. 

Some puzzling anagrams were given, such as : 

Sin sat on a tin tar-tub. 

I hire parsons. 

Red nuts and gin. 

Golden land. 

Men watch loom. 

Use a blinder. 

Buy oval car. 

Mrs. Fortescue now claimed a Fagot from 
Rodney Owens. 

" Mine is only a Riddle," he replied, " that no- 
body has been able to guess ; and I fondly hope 
I may find an answer to-night." 



FIRST BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 25 

He read the following lines : — 

Riddle. 

" They sink in my mysterious First ; 
It is my Second that they see ; 
My Whole, alas! oh, golden fair! 
Will never more be seen by me ! " 

"It is mysterious indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. 
Chester. " I shall leave it to Sally and her 
father to guess." 

It was decided that the riddle was a puzzler. 
Mr. Chester's answer of a " mermaid " was not 
accepted. " For how," asked Mrs. Fortescue, " al- 
lowing the riddle to be half French, would you 
find a maid in the sea ? And," she asked, " who 
would ever expect to see a mermaid twice ? " 

Angelina begged, before leaving, for a game of 
Russian Scandal. 

The company must all sit in a row, or circle, 
when the first in the row must whisper to his 
neighbor a bit of gossip or information, true or 
otherwise. He in turn whispers what he has 
heard to his neighbor; and so on till the bit 
of news reaches the last person in the line, 
who then repeats aloud what he has heard. It 
is amusing to find how his report differs from 
the original, : — sometimes much exaggerated, 
sometimes not so entertaining. 



26 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Some very amusing incidents were told. An- 
gelina, for instance, mentioned to lier neighbor 
" that Mrs. Owens had sent for a carriage that 
morning to make some calls. It did not come, 
so she had to wait." The account given at the 
end of the line was, that Mrs. Owens " had set 
up a carriage with five horses, so one of the 
horses always had to wait." 

"Why is this called 'Russian Scandal'?" 
asked Mr. Chester, emphasizing the " Russian." 

" I suppose," said Mr. Fortescue, " out of ten- 
derness to our own society, to suggest that we 
never have such exaggerations." 



SECOND BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Mosaics. — Tea-Kettle Game. — Essay. — "Writing Son- 
nets. — Hanging. — Three Lives. — Conundrum. 

The second of the Fagot-parties was held 
also at the Fortescues. 

Hector and Aspasia Brunton were among the 
first to arrive. Mrs. Fortescue stated that she 
supposed the lady of the house ought to be the 
first to start their evening fire, and she had pro- 
vided pencils and paper to begin the evening, 
while their wits were fresh, with an intellectual 
game, that of 

Mosaics. 

''Now," continued Mrs. Fortescue, "I shall 
begin by giving you a list of words and a sub- 
ject, and you must all write a story upon that 
subject, and introduce into it all the words ; but 
you are not obliged to put them into the story 
in the order in which they are given out." 

Deprecatory oh's and ah's and shakes of the 
head followed this announcement ; but Mrs. 



28 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Fortescue, undismayed, gave out her list of 
words as follows : — 

Insubordination. Cried. Disorder. Galloped. 

Fairy. Penalty. Opportunity. Effect. 

Embraced. Trinkets. Slippers. Curiosity. 

Climax. Dredging-box. Pineapple. Repent. 

William Tell. Law. Eurious. States Prison. 

She proclaimed the subject to be — The Disor- 
derly Girl. 

For a while silence filled the room, broken 
only by the sound of pencils rapidly moving over 
paper. After the stories were finished, they 
were all given to Mrs. Fortescue, who read them 
aloud, and the company guessed the authorship 
of each. They varied in length from one page 
to several pages. The story we have selected to 
report was the longest. 

The Disorderly Girl. 

" Has anybody seen my bronze slippers ? " cried 
Fay, wildly. " I left them on the mantelpiece in 
the parlor." 

" I told you to put them away," said her 
mother, who was busily slicing pineapple in the 
kitchen. 

" I know," said Fay, hastily; " but it is time 
for the girls to come, and I can't make my hair 



SECOND BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 29 

stay up, for I have lost all my hairpins but 
three." 

Her mother sighed. " Oh, Fay ! you must 
learn to be more careful." 

Fay ran upstairs, and after several minutes' 
hunt through cupboards and boxes, all in great 
disorder^ called cheerfully down, " I have found 
all my things at last, mamma ! " 

Fairy Lindley was bright, entertaining, and 
affectionate ; but, alas ! she had one fault which 
caused great discomfort to those around her. 
It was carelessness. Mrs. Lindley thought it 
was time to consider seriously how she could 
cure her daughter of this serious defect. Sud- 
denly she dropped the dredging-hox with which 
she was sifting sugar over a loaf of cake : a 
bright idea had come to her. When, an hour 
later, her daughter galloped past her in the par- 
lor, the picture of happiness, her mother laughed, 
and then sighed, as she thought of the doom 
hanging over her child. 

When Fay bade her mother good-night at the 
close of the evening, she embraced her affection- 
ately, saying : " Thank you ever so much, dear 
mamma, for the splendid time I have had. But 
I have not told you where I found my pearl 
cross. In your hairpin-box ! Was it not a 
funny place for it ? That capped the climax to 



30 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

all my careless actions ! What a love you are, 
not to scold me ! " 

" My dear," said her mother, gravely, " I am 
going to make a law, and I mean to have it car- 
ried into effect. It is that you shall put all your 
things in their right places, and if you do not 
obey me I shall have you pay a penalty.^^ 

" What will it be ? " asked Fay, laughing. 
" Shall I be sent to States-prison for my insub' 
ordination f " 

" Now, my child, be sober for one instant, and 
listen to me. Whenever I find anything that 
belongs to you lying out of place henceforth, I 
shall take possession of it, but I will give you 
something in exchange. If at the end of a 
month you have improved, we will see what 
will happen then." 

Fay's curiosity was much excited by this 
speech ; but for a while all went well, till there 
came at last an unfortunate day, when she was 
so eager to begin the play she had invented, 
of William Tell shooting the apple from Wal- 
ter's head, which youth was to be represented 
by the clothes-pole, that she rushed out with- 
out putting in their place the trinkets she had 
thought it prudent to take off before leaving the 
house. When she next wanted her gold brace- 
lets and coral pin, they were gone ; but in the 



SECOND BUNDLE OF FAGOTS, 31 

boxes where they usually reposed were — beans ! 
After this Fay, was more careful for a while ; 
but by degrees her efforts to keep her things in 
order relaxed. Gradually, alas ! her wardrobe 
was disappearing, and beans stared at her out 
from boxes and bags, cupboards and drawers. 

" Oh, how I wish that beans had never grown ! " 
cried she, in despair. " It makes me furious to 
meet them everywhere." 

" You shall have the opportunity to win your 
things back,'^ said her mother. " Every day, 
when you do not leave anything out of place, 
you shall have one article restored to you." 

At the end of the month Fay had regained all 
her possessions ; and if any one asked her what 
had caused so disorderly a girl to repent of her 
evil ways, she answered, "' Beans ! " 

"Oh, Sally," exclaimed Mrs. Chester when 
this story was read, " you have given your own 
experience ! " 

" But, mamma," cried Sally, " how could you 
betray me ! I thought nobody would ever sus- 
pect me ! " 

" I hope the next game will require no brains," 
exclaimed Mr. Fortescue ; and Angelina Brunton 
promised that nothing of the sort would be re- 
quired for the one she had provided, which was 
called by the cheerful name of — 



32 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

The Tea-Kettle G-ame. 

" This," said Miss Brunton, " is the name of 
the Fagot that I bring for my share ; and you will 
have to stir round, for it is one of the games 
where one of the company must go out of the 
room, while the rest think of some word that 
has a number of meanings, — a word that has 
various spellings as well as meanings, but the 
same pronunciation. The person who has gone 
out is called in, and must ask a question in turn 
of each of the company ; and the word thought of 
must be brought into each answer many times, 
in its various meanings, — only, instead of the 
word itself, the word ' tea-kettle ' must be put 
in its place.'* 

" I don't understand one bit," said Sally Ches- 
ter : "you have to put the words in, and you 
don't have to put them in ! " 

"Suppose we take the word 'mean,' " explained 
Aspasia. " Suppose you ask me why I looked so sad 
just now. I should want to reply that you were 
very mean to notice my mien, when I was think- 
ing only of the golden mean, and how I should 
express my meanmg. But I should say you 
were very tea-kettle to notice my tea-kettle, when 
I was only thinking of the golden tea-kettle, and 
how I should express my tea-kettle-ingP 



SECOND BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 33 

" How would any one ever guess ? *' exclaimed 
Mrs. Chester. 

" I will go out," said Rodney Owens ; " I will 
make the first trial." 

There was quite a discussion upon words, but 
it was hastily decided to try " boy." 

"It has not much variety of meaning," said 
Aspasia ; " there is also ' buoy,' to be sure." 

" And every variety of ' boys,' " said Mr. For- 
tescue. 

Rodney was called in. He addressed his first 
question to Sally Chester. "Where have you 
been walking this afternoon. Miss Chester?" 
he asked. 

She replied : " I took a small tea-hettU by the 
hand, and we walked to the beach to see the tea- 
kettle splashing about in the most tea-kettle-2iiit 
manner." 

" That sounds like a picnic," said Rodney. 
" Let us see : you might have taken a pail, — but 
no, you would n't have seen it splashing in a 
pale-ant manner. I must pass to the next. Mr. 
Chester, what do you think of the architecture of 
the new town-hall ? " 

" Oh!" said Mr. Chester, " I took my little tea- 
kettle to see it to-day, and decided it was the 
worst specimen of ^2jxi-tea-kettle-d,xi\> architec- 
ture we have had this long time." 

3 



34 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Everybody exclaimed. Of course Kodney 
guessed on " flamboyant,'* and Mr. Chester had 
to go out. 

" How could you give yourself away so ! " ex- 
claimed Sally ; " you deserve to go out." 

" Why not * ail ' and ' ale ' ? " suggested Mrs. 
Fortescue ; and Mr. Chester was called in, and 
first questioned Mrs. Fortescue. 

" I need not ask how you are," he exclaimed, 
" since you appear so well. But do tell me if 
you are as well as you appear ? " 

" I suffer from a little tea-hettle,^^ answered 
Mrs. Fortescue ; " perhaps it is because I had not 
any tea-kettle for dinner." 

" ' Ail,' to be sick ; ' ale,' malt liquor," ex- 
claimed Mr. Chester promptly. 

" How could you be so quick ? " asked Mrs. 
Fortescue. 

" How could you be so slow," replied Mr. 
Chester, " as to give me the first words in the 
column of the old ' primer ' ? " 

A very hard word was discovered for Mrs. 
Fortescue, but we have no space to tell how long 
she was in guessing it. 

" Does the word ' fagot ' ever mean one stick ?" 
asked Mr. Fortescue. 

" That is a question I was going to answer," 
said Hector, " by giving an 



SECOND BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 35 

Essay- 
Oil the word for my Fagot. I had a note from a 
young lady spelling the word with two /s, so I 
thought I must look it up — " 

" Oh, Mr. Brunton," cried Sally, " how could 
you betray me ! " 

"Only to defend you," said Hector ; while Mrs. 
Chester reproved her daughter for always betray- 
ing herself. " I find that Mary Cowden Clarke 
spells the word twice with two ^'s, where the 
word is used by Shakspeare, in her Concord- 
ance." 

" She is safe authority," said Sally trium- 
phantly. 

" But the dictionaries all give it with only one 
^," continued Hector, — "Johnson, Worcester, 
and Webster. Webster allows for one of its mean- 
ings, * also, a single stick, suitable or designed 
for fuel ; ' the other authorities speak only of ' a 
bundle of sticks.' I am pleased to see that 
though both Worcester and Webster derive it 
from Greek and Latin, Richardson quotes it as 
coming from the Anglo-Saxon fegan, ' to join ; ' 
and Johnson's first derivation is from fagod^ 
Welsh." 

" Oh, I am thankful ! " exclaimed Mrs. For- 
tescue ; " for I conclude you would never have 



86 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

allowed us to use it, Mr. Hector, if it had come 
from — " 

" Fax^ the Latin for * torch ' ? Never ! " said 
Hector contemptuously. 

" And there would have been an end to our 
Fagot-parties," said Mrs. Chester. 

" But now," said Mrs. Fortescue, " we are to 
have a Fagot from Miss Grafton, — and she will 
surely give us work to do in the literary line." 

Miss Grafton was spending the winter at the 
Bruntons', as she was a pupil in the Boston Uni- 
versity. Something between a laugh and a shud- 
der greeted her suggestion. 

" I assure you," she said, " you will find my 
game an easy way of 

""Writing Sonnets. 

" Select a sonnet from any poet, without men- 
tioning what sonnet or poet you have chosen. 
Give out to the company the last word of the 
first line. Each person must write a line with 
the number of feet requisite for a sonnet, and 
ending with that word. The second terminal is 
then given, and a second line written by the 
company, ending with the word given out. No 
one must be allowed to know what the succeeding 
terminal is to be. One subject is usually given 
out, on which all the sonnets should be written. 



SECOND BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 87 

This is to be repeated until the fourteen lines 
have been written, when the sonnets are read 
aloud to the company. This game is not so 
difficult as would at first sight appear. Only 
have the courage to try it, and you will be sur- 
prised to find how readable your productions 
will be." 

Mrs. Fortescue was again ready with her paper 
and pencils, and furnished them to those of the 
company who were ambitious enough to venture. 
Indeed, there were not many who refused. 

" Obedience," said Mrs. Fortescue, " is one of 
the qualities necessary in a Fagot-party. If oar 
friends take the trouble to bring us a lighted 
Fagot, the least we can do is to keep the blaze 
going." 

The result was a large number of sonnets, of 
which we give only two examples : — 

Subject: Moonlight. 

In the dark shadow of a tower I — standi 

Dreaming of her who '11 love me — nevermore. 

The moonlight falls aslant the open — door^ 

As ghost-like as the fancies I — command, 

As passionless as is her own white — hand. 

And oh, the change from all that went — lefore ! 

I loved her; yet for her dear sake — forhore 

To urge her to renounce her native — land, 

Content because she promised to be — mine, 

Trusting, blind fool, that she would dare and — do ! 



88 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

More binding are the pledges given in — wine. 
Ere my return another came to — sue. 
Ah well ! I do not grieve that she is — thine. 
Because all love is over for us — two. 

The sonnets were all read aloud by Mr. For- 
tescue, who abstained from naming the authors, 
if he knew them. 

Subject: The Ocean. 

A little bird sat singing on a — spray 

Of flowering hawthorn in the twilight — still. 

My thoughts with memories sweet its clear notes — Jill 

As I recall another soft, bright — May. 

My love was with me on that happy — day; 

We took a drive, unmindful of the — hill. 

" Darling," said I, " I live to do your — will. 

Tell me your wishes now, without de — lay ; 

For to displease you, dearest, I should — hate. 

Shall it be woods, or ocean ? Both are — nigh.** 

" Ocean, by all means, if it 's not too — late,'' 

My pretty love replied ; and this is — why 

I love the sea, for there I found my — maie. 

As she found hers ; and now 't is wife and — I. 

There was much discussion as to the author 
of " The Ocean," which was the last to be read. 

"We must send them all to the ' Transcript,' " 
was pronounced by one and another. 

" I am almost afraid to give the name of my 
Fagot," said Mr. Erastus, a friend of the Brun- 
tons. But Mr. Chester declared that it promised 
a pleasant change upon the last game, though it 
was called 



SECOND BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 39 

Hanging. 

This game is best suited to a party of three or 
four. Some one thinks of a short sentence con- 
sisting of a motto, proverb, or phrase ; such as, 
for example, " All is well that ends well." He 
then indicates this on a sheet of paper by a blank 
for each letter, and dividing lines for each word, 
thus : — 
I I I I I j 

He then proceeds to construct on his paper a 
set of gallows, with as many nooses as there are 
players. One of the players is then asked to 
mention one of the letters in the hidden sen- 
tence. If he guesses rightly, and mentions i, for 
instance, that letter is inserted in the blank 
which indicates its place. If his guess is wrong, 
however, the process of hanging him begins. A 
noose is let down from the gallows, and a head 
attached to it. The false letter is written by the 
side. The next player then tries his fortune at 
guessing the hidden letters. When a player 
makes a second failure, a neck is added to his 
head ; for a third, the body is added ; and so on 
until the figure is completed, when he must retire 
from the game. If a letter is repeated in the 
hidden sentence, as is the case with I in the 
example given above, each blank requires a sep- 



40 



FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 




arate guess. That player beats who first dis- 
covers what the sentence is. 

The first proverb given was " Let him laugh 
who wins." But there were so many failures 
and so many " hangings " that the laughter came 
in for those who did not win. 

This reminded Kodney Owens of a similar 
game, of which he gave a description, called 



Three Lives. 

" It is gracious," exclaimed Mr. Chester, " to 
grant us three lives after hanging. One would 
have seemed somewhat unexpected ! " 

Rodney continued: "This game is so called 
because each player has three lives to lose before 
he is excluded from the game. Some one in the 



SECOND BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 41 

company must think of a word and give the first 
letter of it. No. 2 also thinks of a word begin- 
ning with the letter given out, and adds tlie sec- 
ond letter to it. No. 3 must then think of a 
word beginning with those two letters, and give 
out the third letter of his word, and so on, thus : 

" No. 1 thinks of the word ' sympathy,' and 
gives out the letter s. No. 2 thinks of ' satin,' and 
gives out a. No. 3 has now to think of a word be- 
ginning with s a^ and * sand ' comes to his mind, so 
he gives out the letter n. This obliges No. 4 to 
think of a word beginning with s a n^ and ' San- 
scrit ' suggests itself ; so he gives out the letter s. 
No. 5 cannot recall any word beginning with 
sans. He is only allowed two minutes for his 
meditations, when the word is passed to the 
next. This failure has cost him one of his lives. 
No. 6 gives out the letter c, No. 7 r, No. 8 ^, 
and No. 9 t. But No. 9 has now lost one of his 
lives, because he has completed the word. The 
fun of the game consists in trying to give the 
letters such a turn as to prevent the word end- 
ing with yourself; and passing it on to your neigh- 
bors. If a person, having a longer word in mind, 
gives a letter which completes a word of four or 
more letters, he loses a life. Thus, in the exam- 
ple given above. No. 4 might have had the word 
' sandwich ' in mind, and have given the letter d. 



42 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

The rest of the players must be sufficiently alert 
to see that he has made the word ' sand,' and 
that he has thus lost a life. When a player 
has lost three lives, he drops out of the circle, 
and the game continues without him. 

" When the circle is reduced to two, the contest 
becomes very exciting, each trying to fashion the 
word in such a way as to force his adversary to 
complete the word. The one left on the field is 
of course the victor. The first player who loses 
a life has the privilege of one additional life, 
making four in all." 

The whole company entered into this game ; 
but the number of those who could continue 
grew less and less, Hector Brunton and Cecilia 
holding on to the last. Mrs. Chester declared 
they must go. 

" But, Mr. Chester," asked Mrs. Fortescue, 
" will you not give us your Conundrum ? " 

" I was just thinking of one," said Mr. Chester ; 
" Hector succeeded so well in telling us all his 
facts in a few words, it reminded me of the 
essence of wit and this — 

" eomindrum. 

" Why was his Essay like a Chinese lady's 
foot? Because brevity was the sole of it." 
" We had better leave," said Mrs. Chester. 



THIRD BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Verbaeium. — Charade. — Theatrical Adjectives. 
— Conundrum. — Idiot's Joy. — Solutions of 
Anagrams. 

THE next of the Fagot-parties met at Mrs. 
Chester's, and a large number of guests 
appeared. Each one bore a Fagot in hand, — 
a veritable stick of wood, which Mrs. Chester's 
lively fire seemed scarcely to need, but for 
which she could in the course of the evening 
find room in the ample fireplace in her large 
hall. 

" Have you guessed my Anagram ? " asked 
Mrs. Chester of Hector Brunton as he flung 
on his stick of wood. 

" Oh, yes ! " he replied ; " but I had to go to 
the Antipodes for it." 

" Antipodes ! " Mrs. Chester exclaimed ; " I 
never thought of making it out of ' Toadspine.' 

" I believe we have invented the rule," she 
went on, " that the lady of the house shall be 
the one to set the literary blaze going, though 



44 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

the rest of you to-night are warming us up for 
any entertainment with your actual Fagots. I 
bring forward for my Fagot the game of Yer- 
barium. Yes, Aspasia, I know what you are 
going to say, — some of you have played it be- 
fore ; but I think that my method differs in some 
respects from the ordinary one, and it is at any 
rate so interesting a game that one who enjoys 
it may play it for weeks together without tiring 
of it, as I know from experience." 

" But, Mrs. Chester, we have not all played 
it ! " *' It is new to me." " And to me," cried 
one and another. " Will you please give us 
the direction." 

" Oh ! that is easily done," replied Mrs. Ches- 
ter ; and she read the following directions : — 

*^ Verbarium (sometimes called Andkoscoggin). 

" A word is chosen, which each one of the com- 
pany writes at the head of a sheet of paper. The 
game consists in making as many other words as 
possible, in a given time, out of the letters which 
form the foundation-word. Suppose the founda- 
tion-word to be 

CONYERSATION. 

The time allowed to each letter should be three 
minutes. Take the first letter in the foundation- 



THIRD BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 45 

word, which in this instance is C, and make as 
many words as possible beginning with C out of 
the letters in the foundation-word. The same 
letter may not be used twice in the same word, 
unless there are two in the foundation-word, as is 
the case in the example, with the letters N and 0. 

" When the three minutes are out, the writing 
ceases, and the one who has the longest list reads 
aloud his set of words made from the first letter. 
The rest of the party cross out such of them as 
they have on their lists. If any have not the 
word on their lists, they make it known by rais- 
ing their hands. Every failure counts one to 
those who have the word, and the number of 
failures thus made by others is recorded to 
them, and counted to them as gain, and written at 
the side of that word. When No. 1 has finished 
reading his list. No. 2 reads what remain on his ; 
all in the circle, as before, marking on their own 
lists the number of failures. Then No. 3 reads, 
and so on throughout the circle, until all the 
words have been read. Each person then adds 
up the number of failures set against his column 
of words, and places the total at one side of his 
paper. The next letter in the foundation-word 
is taken for the initial letter of a new list of 
words. The same rules are followed as before. 

" Each letter in the foundation-word is taken 



46 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

in turn for the initial letter of a new list of words. 
When all the letters have been used in this way, 
and the failures recorded, the latter are added 
together, and he who numbers the highest has 
beaten. No word is admitted of less than four 
letters. Abbreviations and proper names are not 
allowed. Each additional syllable counts, so that 
it is an object to find long words. Only one word 
of a similar meaning is admitted, so it would be 
better to record ' creation ' than ' create ' in 
this word of ' conversation,' as it counts three 
for its three syllables ; and ' conversion ' is more 
valuable for counting than ' convert.' 

" I have taken the precaution," Mrs. Chester 
went on, " to provide sheets of paper and pencils, 
so we can begin directly." 

" May I ask why the game should be called 
* Androscoggin ' ? " asked the Bruntons' " Aunt 
Cecilia." 

" That will have to count for one of the Rid- 
dles," suggested Rodney Owens. 

" Suppose we take the word ' precaution,' " 
suggested Aspasia Brunton. 

This word was quickly placed at the head of 
each sheet of paper, and the party began to 
scribble, Mr. Chester holding the watch and 
watching the minutes, announcing when the 
three minutes were over. 



THIRD BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 47 

" You must be mistaken," exclaimed Cecilia. 
" I have had time to write down only three P's. 
I was looking for a long one." 

Rodney Owens, meanwhile, had recorded forty- 
eight. Some of his, however, were not allowed, 
though he declared they were to be found in 
the dictionary. These were " paco," " patonce," 
" pean," and some others ; but his " piano," 
"paction," "patron," and "panic" were re- 
ceived with applause, and he had a greater 
number of long words than anybody had found. 
Arthur Chester, however, took pride in his 
" peanut " and " pecan," that nobody else had. 
Each successive letter was taken in turn in the 
same way. One hundred and ninety words were 
found in all, and Rodney Owens counted up the 
most. Arthur lost much on failures, having 
" onions," " entrance," and many two-syllabled 
words that could not be made from the word. 
He gained four, however, from having " opera- 
tion," which nobody else had. 

" I think we might easily spend the evening 
with this game," said Mrs. Fortescue. 

" Only I have promised," said Mrs. Chester, 
" that Sally shall give her Fagot that was crowded 
out last time." 

" It is not original with me," said Sally ; " that 
is why I venture to bring it forward. It is a 



48 FAGOTS FOB THE FIRESIDE. 

Charade that I admired so very much, and the 
very original writer has allowed me to use it for 
my Fagot ; " and she read the following — 

Charade. 
My First is what a fair young maid may be, 

Without eliciting the slightest blame ; 
Yet woe betide the fortunes of a horse 

That weakly undertakes to do the same ! 

My Second was made famous by a Pope, 

Yet Popes may never wear one, — more 's the pity ! 

*T is strange that culprits always need one, while 
Even saints would not renounce such in a city. 

My Whole was cruel to a fair young maid, 

Yet never could be cruel to a horse ! 
He scoffed at Popes, yet had he never lived, 

Saints, sinners, all of us, had suffered loss. 

" What a lovely Charade ! " exclaimed Clara 
Fortescue. 

" And I like it " said Aspasia, " because I 
really believe I have guessed it ; and a Charade 
you can guess, is so much more interesting ! " 

" I think I have a clew," said Mr. Fortescue, 
" but I did n't understand about the horse." 

" Remember Venice," said Aspasia in a low 
tone. 

" Oh, please don't give us any hint ! " said 
Cecilia ; " I do like so to puzzle out such things 
myself." 

" I agree with Aspasia that I do like a Charade 



THIRD BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 49 

that can be guessed," said Mrs. Fortescue. " Now, 
the one your brother Kodney gave us at our first 
party is, I fear, one of those that nobody ever did 
guess." 

" Except the person that made it," said Hector 
Brunton. 

" But he is probably dead," answered Mrs. 
Fortescue. 

While copies were being made of the Charade, 
Mrs. Chester called upon Eustace Brunton for 
his Fagot. 

Eustace, who was always ready for every occa- 
sion, brought out a game, called — 

Theatrical Adjectives. 

" This game is so named," he went on, " be- 
cause the adjectives used are guessed from their 
action. One of the company must go out of the 
room. The rest think of some adjective to be 
guessed. This is a little difficult, as you want 
to find an adjective that can be easily acted. 
The person who has gone out returns, after the 
word is prepared, and asks a question in turn of 
each one of the company until he has guessed 
the adjective." 

" But how does he guess it ? " interrupted Mrs. 

Chester. " Must every one put the adjective in 

his answer ? " 

4 



60 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

"Not at all," replied Eustace. "But each 
person in his reply must enact the quality that 
the adjective expresses, and the questioner must 
guess the word by the air and manner of the 
person who replies. For instance, suppose we 
agreed upon the word ' sleepy,' and I were asked 
some question : whatever the question might be, 
I ought to reply in a sleepy tone, as if I were 
imbued with sleep, expressed by the adjective. I 
should not, however, advise the word ' sleepy,' 
because the object of the game is to be entertain- 
ing ; and I am. afraid if everybody fell to acting 
the word ' sleepy,' Mrs. Chester would think I 
had brought a very dull Fagot." 

" I hope you won't ask me to go out," said 
Arthur Chester; *'for I mix up adjectives, and 
never can tell which they are, — which are ad- 
jectives used as adverbs, and which are adverbs 
used as adjectives." - 

But Cecilia Owens declared she had rather 
guess the adjective than act it, so she went 
out. 

The word "learned" was fixed upon, and 
Cecilia was called in. 

" How many people do you suppose went out 
in the storm yesterday?" she asked of Mr. 
Fortescue. 

" If you were to wish me to consider the sub- 



THIRD BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 51 

ject on a strictly mathematical basis," he an- 
swered, " I should be obliged to acquaint myself 
with a large quantity of numerical facts. I 
should have to possess myself with a Directory, 
to know how many persons there are in the 
town, of right age to go out ; and this would fail 
to furnish me with all the statistics, because the 
Directory does not inform me the number in each 
household, — only perhaps of those who are likely 
to be called out naturally for their daily occupa- 
tions, while equally naturally there may be a 
number of females not called out by necessity, 
but—" 

" Oh ! it must be ' long-winded,' " said Cecilia, 
interrupting him. 

" I am highly complimented," said Mr. Fortes- 
cue ; " but you are mistaken." 

" Now, Sally," said Cecilia, passing on, " you 
can't be so learned." Here she detected a 
smile on the faces of the listeners which gave 
her a hint that she was on the track of the 
word ; but she continued with her question : 
"Where, Sally, did you get that lovely shell 
necklace ? " 

" It was in the year 1492," began Sally, " that 
Columbus set sail from Palos. This was a small 
port in the South of Spain, not far from Cadiz. 
Ferdinand and Isabella were the reigning mon- 



52 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

archs, and at first they gave but little attention 
to the arguments of Columbus." 

" The word must be ' learned,' " exclaimed Ce- 
cilia. " Only, Sally, do go on and tell us how you 
meant to connect all this history with your shell 
necklace." 

" Only because it came from Cuba or the South 
Sea Islands ; and this is the only bit of history I 
happen to know." 

" I can't say there is much acting in this ! " 
said Mr. Fortescue. 

" But you can put in as much as you please ! " 
answered Eustace. 

" I will come then first to you," said Sally 
Chester as she went out. 

A word was selected, and she was called in. 
She went directly to Eustace, asking : " Will you 
tell us what you propose to do with your Fagot?" 

He started up, and seemed to seize something 
in the air. 

"Is this a dagger that I see before me ?" he 
cried. " It beckons me on ! I go, I go. I will 
not dread the ruddy drops. I follow wherever 
it leads, even if it calls me — " 

" Oh! *• theatrical,' 'theatrical,'" exclaimed 
Sally. " That must be the word." 

" No, no," exclaimed the rest. 

" Is not that right ?" said Sally, disturbed, 



THIRD BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 53 

turning to Angelina Brimton, who sat next. 
" Miss Brunton, can you give me a clew to the 
word ? " 

Miss Brunton rushed directly to the back of 
the large room, seizing, as she passed a table, 
a Spanish dagger used as a paper-cutter, and a 
silver goblet. She returned slowly, threading her 
way among the chairs and tables. 

" See," exclaimed Mrs. Chester, " she is Queen 
Eleanor ! What a terrible expression she wears ! 
It is truly— " 

" Hush," exclaimed Mrs. Fortescue. " You 
will betray the word ! See, she is coming to 
Cecilia Owens, who must be her Fair Rosa- 
mond ! " 

Cecilia started from her chair with all the ter- 
ror of Fair Rosamond as Queen Eleanor offered 
her the choice of the dagger or the poisoned 
goblet. 

" Do see ! " exclaimed Sally ; " she is Queen 
Eleanor herself, and her look is murderous.^^ 

There was a shout of applause, for this was 
the word. 

" But you ought not to have guessed so soon," 
said Mrs. Fortescue ; " for we have lost the end 
of the scene." 

" It was your applause," said Sally, " that 
showed me what the word was." 



64 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" It reminds me,'' said Mr. Chester, "of the 

" Conundrum : 

" When was the greatest slaughter of poultry 
on record ? When Queen Eleanor did ' murder 
most foul.'" 

This game of theatrical adjectives proved such 
a favorite one that it was continued till late in 
the evening. 

Eustace Brunton would not describe a game 
he wished to introduce, as he said it could he 
better understood in playing ; and he selected 
Rodney Owens for the " victim," in the game 
played as follows, with the name of — 

'T was I. 

One person is selected, who must go round the 
room, inquiring of each person what interesting 
object he has lately seen. The answer can be 
anything one pleases, — an elephant, a rhinoce- 
ros, a goose, a donkey, a " born " idiot, a bur- 
glar. After each answer, the victim who goes 
round must reply, " 'T was I." 

Rodney Owens lent, himself with spirit to the 
little trick which Eustace Brunton had played 
upon him by whispering to him that all he 
need to do was to say, " 'T was I," to every an- 
swer given him. The melancholy tone in which 



THIRD BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 55 

Eodney gave his ejaculation, varying it for each 
answer, gave much amusement. 

As the party were still seated for a round 
game, Rodney Owens proposed they should try 
one which he had wished to suggest this even- 
ing, called — 

How do you go, and when? 

One of the party declares he is going to travel, 
and wants some advice. He whispers to his 
right-hand neighbor the name of the country he 
is going to. ; then asks of his left-hand neighbor 
whether he shall go by sea or land ; of the next 
by what conveyance he shall go ; of the next, 
whether to the north, south, east or west. 
After his four questions are answered, he is 
obliged to describe how he can reach the place 
he has proposed to visit by the different ways 
recommended to him. Every variety of method 
of travel can be suggested, — by railway, ca- 
mels, donkeys, gondolas, sledges, wheelbar- 
rows, bicycles ; all perhaps equally difficult 
for the traveller to accommodate to his circum- 
stances. 

For instance. Hector Brunton had to explain 
how he could get to Australia by land. He 
stated he went first to the North Pole, then 
took a balloon, — which was surely not going 



56 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE, 

by sea, though over the sea. Cecilia Owens 
had to get to the Rocky Mountains by canoe, 
which she managed by having hers carried on 
camels. 

Mrs. Fortescue at last insisted that it was 
time for them to go, though she could not resist 
Clara's entreaties for her to stop and hear Ce- 
cilia describe such an easy game of Patience 
with the enticing name of — 

The Idiot's Joy. 

Even Mr. Fortescue declared that he was sure, 
from the name, it must exactly suit him ; and 
stayed to hear the description. 

"It varies from the old Idiot's Joy," Cecilia 
went on, " and is more entertaining. You use 
only one pack of cards, and have them well 
shuffled. Then take off three at a time, and 
put them down, face up, to form a talon, or 
stock. If a king or ace appears as the top card, 
take it off, to serve as a foundation-card, and use 
the one below, if suitable. On the aces you are 
to build up families, — an ascending sequence. 
On the kings you build, in descending sequence, as 
far as seven, — no farther ; for these piles serve 
to supply the lower ones when needed. Continue 
to take off three cards at a time from the pack, 
making a talon of them, face up. You can use 



THIRD BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 57 

every third card, as it turns up, for foundation- 
card, or to complete the piles, and you can use 
always the card revealed by using the upper one ; 
that is, you can always use the top card of the 
talon whenever it is suitable. Place the kings as 
they appear in a row, and the ace of the same 
suit under each king. FoIIqw suit in making 
the families. You can turn the talon as often 
as you please, and this is what makes the peace- 
ful joy of the game ; but if you go through it a 
second time without gaining a single card for 
your piles, you may be sure that your game has 
failed. The card you want is perhaps at the very 
top, and never has been revealed." 

As she was giving directions for the game, 
Cecilia was hastily dealing out the cards. 

" You see we have finished up this pile on the 
king of diamonds as far as seven ; but we can- 
not use on it this eight, as we are not allowed 
to go higher than seven on the king-piles, and it 
cannot be used on the ace-pile below, as it is not 
ready for it, — it is not higher than five, so it 
is of no use at present. The charm of the game 
is tliat you peacefully turn your pile over and 
over, and have to take no thought nor judgment 
about it." 

" It will just suit me," said Mr. Fortescue ; but 
Mrs. Fortescue bore him away. 



68 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Meanwhile Sally Chester had been collecting 
the solutions for the Anagrams given at their 
first meeting, which were in order, as given 
there ; — 

Transubstantiation. 

Parishioners. 

Understanding. 

Old England. 

Commonwealth, 

Undesirable. 

Vocabulary. 



FOURTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Criticisms. — Literati. — Answer to Charade. — Co- 
nundrum. — Charade. — Skeleton Story. 

THERE was a large family at the Bruntons', 
where the next Fagot-party assembled, so 
there was a numerous and interested audience in 
the background. When the usual party had ap- 
peared and were welcomed, Angelina brought for- 
ward the Fagot that she had prepared for the 
entertainment of her visitors. It was called — 

Criticisms. 

^ She read the following description : — 
^ " After the guests are conveniently arranged, 
give to each one a sheet of paper, with the re- 
quest that the title of some well-known book be 
written upon it, as near the top as possible. It 
may be either a novel or poem, a scientific work 
or some grave treatise upon morals or philos- 
ophy, as the fancy of the writer may dictate. 
After this has been written, the sheet must be 
folded down in such a way as to conceal the 



60 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

line already written, and passed to the left-hand 
neighbor. 

"Upon the sheet now in his hand, each one 
must write, as near the top of the page as possible, 
the name of some author of sufficient reputation 
to be generally known. This name is also con- 
cealed from view by again turning down the 
paper, which is then passed to the left. Next 
must be written some quotation, either in verse 
or prose, which would make an appropriate 
motto for a book. The paper must be again 
folded, and, as before, passed to the left. 

" Every person must now write a criticism upon 
the book supposed to be designated in the lines 
concealed from view, as though taken from some 
newspaper or review. The papers must then be 
passed once more for a second criticism, which 
finishes the game." 

Miss Brunton provided each of the visitors 
with a paper, on which the first was to write the 
name of a book, passing it on to receive the addi- 
tions, in turn, of the name of an author, a motto, 
and a series of criticisms. When finished, these 
were read aloud, and received with great applause 
and laughter. The specimen we give below may 
be interesting as showing the comical effect pro- 
duced ^y such incongruous parts being joined 
into one whole : — 



FOURTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 61 

Alice in Wonderland, 

BY 

Charles Dickens. 

*' Happiness is a wayside flower growing along the high- 
road of usefulness." 

First criticism : " This treatise is evidently 
the work of one who is master of the subject he 
discusses. The most superficial survey of the 
ground he covers, discloses an intimate acquain- 
tance with the laws which govern the material 
forces of the universe. And not only this, the 
author takes us by the hand, as it were, and 
leads us into a world beyond our ken, showing 
us that there are things even in the physical 
world which our senses are not yet sufficiently 
developed to take cognizance of." 

Second criticism : " This novel is one of the 
author's best. In it his pathos, humor, and 
knowledge of the world are seen in their fullest 
measure. This measure, it should be mentioned, 
is not a peck measure, nor a yard measure, nor 
any measure by which we measure out bare ma- 
terialism ; but so far as it goes, it is full. The 
work is absorbing, as sand is absorbing, from its 
dryness. It should be read upon a wet day. It 
is especially recommended to the young as a 
discipline for the mind." 



62 FAGOTS FOR TEE FIRESIDE, 

A clamor of voices followed the reading of 
this, as well as the remaining criticisms and the 
other papers, every one being ready with his or 
her guess as to the authorship of the different 
writings. In the example we have given, it 
was easy to recognize Mr. Chester's hand in 
the second criticism ; but it took much longer to 
discover Angelina Brunton as the writer of the 
first. 

" Now," said Sally Chester, " if your brains are 
as tired as mine after writing those criticisms, 
I am sure that you will be glad to try the game I 
am going to propose, and which seems, from its 
name, to be particularly appropriate here," she 
added, with an arch smile and a bow which in- 
cluded both Angelina and Hector Brunton. " It 
is called — 

" Literati. 

" One of the party must go out of the room, 
while the rest fix upon the name of some distin- 
guished person which contains as many letters 
as there are players in the game. Each player 
then chooses some well-known character which 
he is to personate, and whose name begins with 
one of the letters in the original word. The in- 
dividual who has gone out then returns to the 
room and questions each one in the order in 



FOURTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 63 

which the initial letters come, and from his 
answer guesses the person he represents, re- 
members the initial letter, and combines it with 
the others as he guesses them, until the whole 
name is revealed. 

" I am afraid you will think this a stupid ex- 
planation ; but you will readily see what the game 
is when we once begin to play it. Mr. Fortescue, 
will you please be the guesser, and go into the 
next room for a moment ? " 

" Certainly, if you rule that it shall be so, Miss 
Sally." 

As Mrs. Chester and Mrs. Fortescue and others 
were now sitting in the background, Sally counted 
nine to play the game : " So," she said, " we must 
select a name that has nine letters in it. Can 
anybody suggest one ? " 

" Gladstone?" queried Rodney Owens. 

" Thank you ; that will do admirably. Now, 
Mr. Chester, you must select a character whose 
name begins with G, and be prepared to answer 
any questions that Mr. Fortescue may ask you 
about your assumed self. Aspasia, the I will 
come to you, the a to Clara, the d to Mr. Owens, 
the s to Angelina, the t to Arthur, the o to Ce- 
cilia, the n to Hector, and the e to me. If you 
are all ready, I will call Mr. Fortescue. Begin 
with Mr. Chester, if you please," she said to that 



64 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

gentleman as he entered the room and approached 
Mr. Chester. 

" Well, Chester, are you a real or a fictitious 
character ? " 

" I am fictitious, but I am founded on fact, I 
believe." 

" Are you male or female ? " 

" Female." 

" Where did you live ? " 

" In Italy." 

" By what fact in your history are you best 
known ? " 

" Humph ! Well, that is a poser. I once put 
myself into a pretty bad box." 

At this point Arthur laughed, and whispered 
to Cecilia Owens : " I have guessed father's 
woman." 

After a few more questions Mr. Fortescue 
moved on to Aspasia Brunton. 

" Miss Aspasia, are you living at this mo- 
ment?" 

" Oh, no ! I died forty or fifty years ago." 

" In what country did you live ? " 

" In France." 

" Are you a man or woman ? " 

" I am, or was, a man." 

" Do you live in history ? " 

" I do." 



FOURTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. Q^ 

" To which class of men do you belong, — to 
the knaves, or heroes ? " 

" To the heroes." . , 

" Were jou distinguished in peace, or in war ? " 

" More particularly in war." 

"Why did you choose this character?" 

Sally Chester was on the point of objecting 
to this, as too leading a question; but before 
she could do so, Aspasia answered: "Because 
you Americans owe me an especial debt of 
gratitude." 

" Ah, yes ! I think I see the cat's ears," said 
Mr. Fortescue, as he moved on to question his 
daughter Clara. After he had completed the 
circle he said : " I think the word must be ' Glad- 
stone : ' I make out all the characters but yours, 
Chester, — Lafayette, Queen Anne, Dickens, 
Shakspeare, Tom Thumb, Ophelia, Napoleon, 
and Queen Eleanor ; but who is your G ? You 
did not seem to know much about her yourself." 

Mr. Chester could not resist singing the refrain 
of " Oh, the Mistletoe Bough ! " 

" Poor Ginevra, she did put herself into a bad 
box ! " exclaimed Mr. Fortescue. 

" That was what I guessed it on," said Arthur. 

Mr. Fortescue took his seat, while Rodney 
Owens went out to take his turn as questioner. 

Some of the others joined in this game, which 
6 



66 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

proved very amusing, as even those who knew 
the first letter of the word found it difficult to 
guess the characters described. 

" This game shows how some people are better 
guessers than others," said Eustace Brunton. 

" I think we are all very good guessers," 
said Mr. Fortescue. " Surely our wits ought to 
be sharpened by playing these games. Yet I 
venture to say none of us have yet guessed the 
mysterious Riddle given us at our first meeting." 

" Who is responsible for that ? " asked Aunt 
Cecilia. " I have lain awake nights trying to 
guess it." 

Everybody looked at Rodney Owens, who bore 
the united gaze with composure, and then con- 
fessed that he did not know the answer him- 
self ; the Riddle was sent him by " somebody " 
near Philadelphia, and he had brought it for- 
ward because he thought some of this brilliant 
party ought to guess it! 

" I am so stupid," said Cecilia, " that I have 
not guessed the Charade we had last time." 

" I believe it is the first Charade I ever 
guessed," said Sally Chester; "but I don't quite 
understand about the horse." 

" SJiyloch could not find horses to be cruel to 
in Yenice ! " explained Mr. Fortescue. " If there 
had been any, doubtless he would have come 



FOURTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 67 

under the censure of the Cruelty to Animals 
Society." 

" But what lock did any pope have to do 
with ? " asked Mrs. Chester. 

" Oh, my dear ! " answered Mr. Chester, " are 
you so forgetful of your poets ? And do you 
not remember what one Pope had to do with the 
Kape of a Lock ? By the way, here is a — 

" ComindrTim : — 

" Which of the poets will most claim the atten- 
tion of posterity ? The poet Cray, because 
" ' Each human head, in time, 't is said. 
Will turn to him, though he be dead.' '* 

" I should like to give you a Charade," said 
Aunt Cecilia, " if you will accept it as my Fagot. 
It is not absolutely new, but I think it is not 
well known, and I consider it absolutely perfect, 
and ought to be easily guessed, as it represents 
one of the heroes of history;" and she gave 
this — 

Charade : — 

Not great in stature, small indeed, 
His name still spreads abroad ; 
"Where others stand for punishment, 
He sat to reap reward. 

A sacred season's gift he held, — 

Fruit of long expectation ; 
And midway in his bliss he paused 

For calm self -approbation. 



68 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" You ought to guess it, Arthur," said Aspasia, 
" as I think you would like to imitate him." 

" A hero in history ! " exclaimed Arthur. 

" I am afraid Arthur is not familiar enough 
with the place where ' others stand for punish- 
ment,'" said Mr. Chester. 

" You mean the corner," said Cecilia Owens. 

" Oh, Jack Horner ! " exclaimed Arthur. 

Aspasia at this moment introduced Miss Les- 
ter, one of the young ladies who was spending 
the winter at the Bruntons',in order to go to the 
Boston University, and who had consented to 
furnish a Fagot, which she presented as — 

A Skeleton Story. 

"You need not shudder," she said, " for there 
is nothing very ghost-like about it ; but the 
game is played in this way : — 

" One person writes the story, which, you will 
see, may be merely a sketch, where it is well to 
introduce many of the names of individuals who 
are present ; but spaces must be left wherever 
adjectives would be used. Before reading the 
story to the audience the writer must request an 
adjective from each person present in turn, which 
is to be. written in as it comes, in each space 
thus left vacant ; after which the story will be 
read aloud. 



FOURTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 69 

" Miss Aspasia," she went on, " has requested 
me to write this sketch ; and I will now call upon 
you to furnish me with adjectives." 

Pencil in hand, she first appealed to Mr. For- 
tescue, who gave her " eccentric ; " the next per- 
son offered " atrocioiis," the next, " lovely;" and 
so on, until all the spaces were filled, and she 
read aloud the story, premising, — 

" I hope you will remember that I did not 
furnish the epithets, but that you are responsible 
for them. 

" ' A most eccentric party assembled at the 
atrocious Mrs. Brunton's, and each lovely visitor 
brought his or her ridiculous Fagot. The men- 
dacious Mr. Brunton had determined to pay no 
attention to the emblematic company, and was 
sitting in a distant corner of the large far-fetched 
drawing-room, in a morose, grumpy manner, 
with his obsolete newspaper. But the fortuitous 
sounds of the surly games so distracted him 
that he was obliged to join in the golumptious 
festival. The fastidious Mrs. Fortescue, always 
agreeable, of course, lent her greedy share, while 
the learned Mr. Chester, as ever, created a gen- 
eral mysterious laugh whenever he opened his 
obstinate mouth. 

" ' Scarcely had the transcendent festivities 
begun, when a jejune sound was heard in the 



70 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

front of the green house, w^ere the ornamental 
assembly was thrown into a spirited confu- 
sion. Was it the pensive music of a lofty 
grinding organ or of a characteristic street- 
organ ; or was it the vivacious London mob 
which had adjourned to this gracious country in 
order to assist in this nolle Fagot-party ? The 
unexpected Aunt Maria, always a little timid 
and cautious, suggested locking up the silver ; 
the magnanimous Aunt Cecilia proposed low- 
ering the pensive gas ; the sardonic Mr. Hector 
thought of addressing the voluntary multitude 
from the long-winded balcony ; the sentimen- 
tal Mrs. Chester suggested that perhaps all the 
graceful guests had better go home. Mr. Ches- 
ter, even, who fancied that a menagerie was 
loose, and that hyenas were approaching, pro- 
posed getting out of the back windows ; while 
hilarious Cecilia Owens and her esoteric friend 
Sally Chester got up on tables with significant 
agility. The ironical Mr. Erastus 2in.di fallacious 
Mr. Eustace seized the satirical poker and grasp- 
ing tongs, and stood before the ugly parlor door- 
way, which promised to be the first point of 
gallant attack. Those of the absurd ladies who 
had not mounted upon the saturnine chairs and 
tables hid themselves behind screens, and all 
awaited the onset. The gloomy party were in 



FOURTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 71 

some measure relieved when the preternatural 
enemy at length appeared. 

"'It consisted of the irrepressible Timothy 
Brunton and a number of his emblematic friends, 
taking this method of coming in at the door of 
the Fagot-party, with perhaps a prospective im- 
promptu idea of ice-cream.' " 

Just at the close of the reading of the story, 
which had heen received with applause, a war- 
whoop from the actual Timothy as he came up 
the stairs was received with added enthusiasm. 
He came in with the ice-cream, which formed 
the close of the Fagot-party. 



FIFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Doublets. — Tierce. — Conundrum. — Minister's Cat. 
— Alliteration. — Riddle. — Mrs. Plinlimmins's 

Tea. 

• 

'T^HE Bruntons had earnestly begged to have 
-■- the Fagot-party again. It entertained 
their large household so agreeably that they 
would gladly receive it every week. Theirs was 
an easy house to go to, so a large party assem- 
bled. Mr. Erastus, as he was usually called, 
presented the first Fagot. He was the son of 
an old friend of Mrs. Brunton, and was passing 
the winter at her house. 

" I suppose," he said, " I need not apologize 
for introducing the game I propose, siuce it was 
originated by so great a favorite as Lewis Car- 
roll, the author of ' Alice's Adventures in Won- 
derland;' and I find that it is not a familiar 
game, though I have played it with much interest 
since reading his little book about it, published 
some years ago. The game is called — 



FIFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 73 

"Doublets. 

" ' The rules of the puzzle are simple enough. 
Two words are proposed, of the same length ; 
and the puzzle consists in linking these together 
by interposing other words, each of which shall 
differ from the next word in one letter only. 
That is to say, one letter may be changed in one 
of the given words, then one letter in the word 
so obtained, and so on, till we arrive at the other 
given word. The letters must not be inter- 
changed among themselves, but each must keep to 
its own place. As an example, the word " head " 
may be changed into "tail " in this way : 



H 


e 


a 


d 


h 


e 


a 




t 


e 


a 




t 


e 


1 




t 


a 


1 




T 


a 


i 





" * It is perhaps needless to state that it is de 
rigueur that the links should be English words 
such as might be used in good society. The 
easiest Doublets are those in which the con- 
sonants . in one word answer to consonants in 
the other, and the vowels to vowels; "head" 
and " tail " constitute a doublet of this kind.' 

"This description," continued Mr. Erastus, 



74 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" is Lewis Carroll's own, and his book gives the 
following rules, which I put together for our 



" ' 1. The words given to be linked together 
constitute a " Doublet," the interposed words are 
the " links," and the entire series a " chain." 
The object is to complete the chain with the 
least possible number of links. 

" ' 2. Each word in the chain must be formed 
from the preceding word by changing one letter 
in it, and one only. The substituted letter must 
occupy the same place in the word so formed 
which the discarded letter occupied in the pre- 
ceding word, and all the other letters must retain 
their places. 

" ' 3. To score for a game : A number of marks 
will be apportioned to each Doublet equal to the 
number of letters in the two words given. For 
example, in this instance of " Head " and " Tail," 
the number of possible marks to be gained would 
be eight; and this maximum will be gained by 
each competitor who makes the chain with the 
least possible number of changes. If it be as- 
sumed in this instance that the chain cannot be 
completed with less than the four links given, 
then those who completed it with four links only 
will receive eight marks, while a mark will be 



FIFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 75 

deducted for every link used beyond four. Any 
competitor using five links would score seven 
marks, any competitor using eight links would 
score four, and any using twelve links or more 
would score nothing.' '' 

Aspasia had been providing pencils and paper 
for the numerous guests. 

" How are we to go to work ? " asked Mrs. 
Fortescue. 

" Please show how you do it once ! " begged 
Cecilia Owens. 

" Here is a very simple one," said Mr. Erastus : 
" turn Cat into Bog, in this way. With the first 
change of one letter only, make ' cot ' of ' cat,' 
then * dot ' of ' cot ; ' and one more change makes 
' dot ' into ' dog.' This requires only two links, 
and would count six, assuming this to be the 
smallest number of links possible. Another per- 
son might make cat, cot, con, don, dog, giving an 
additional link, which would oblige him to lose 
one mark, and he would only count five. 

" These Doublets," Mr. Erastus explained, 
" were originally given in successive numbers 
of ' Yanity Fair,' published in London, and 
have since been printed by Lewis Carroll in a 
little volume, including a Glossary of words 
that can be used. Its title is ' Doublets, a 
Word-Puzzler,' by Lewis Carroll. His real 



76 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

name, you know, is C. Lutwidge Dodgson. I 
will read you from his letter that first intro- 
duced them in ' Vanity Fair.' I find it agree- 
able to have one of these Doublets on hand to 
work over. He says : — 

" * Just a year ago last Christmas two young 
ladies — smarting under that sorest scourge of 
feminine humanity, * the having nothing to do ' 
— besought me to send them ' some riddles.' But 
riddles I had none at hand, and therefore set 
myself to devise some other form of verbal tor- 
ture which should serve the same purpose. The 
result of my meditations was a new kind of puz- 
zle, — new, at least, to me, — which, now that it 
has been fairly tested by a year's experience and 
commended by many friends, I offer to you as a 
newly gathered nut, to be cracked by the omni- 
vorous teeth which have already masticated so 
many of your Double Acrostics.' 

" Perhaps some of you can tell me," continued 
Erastus, " what he means in saying : ' I am told 
there is an American game involving a similar 
principle. I have never seen it, and can only 
say of its inventors, jpereant qui ante nos nostra 
dixerunt I ' " 

" He must mean," exclaimed Cecilia Owens, 
" my mother's beloved game of ' Word-making.' 
She plays it every night ; and when you meet at 



FIFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 77 

our house, as I hope jou will soon, you will have 
to begin with that game, as she always insists 
upon it." 

" But how are we to start upon this ? " asked 
Mr. Fortescue. 

" I think it a good way," said Erastus, " to 
write down the Doublets side by side ; then I 
make my experiments in columns. In this way 
I try with each word what change can be made. 
For instance, in the first Doublet I will give you, 
turn ' pig ' into ' sty,' I should put down the two 
words side by side. I want to turn p into s ; so 
* sit 'suggests itself, and I interpose ' pit,' turn- 
ing ' pig ' into ' pit.' I want to put in a vowel for 
the middle letter, so under ' sty ' I write ' say.' 
This gives Pig Sty. 

Pit, say, 

sit, sat, directly suggest 

themselves in each column, and you thus get 
Pig, pit, sit, sat, say. Sty." 

" I am eager to try," said Mr. Chester. 

Erastus then proceeded to give out some 
Doublets, some of which he had tried himself, 
and some of which were new to him, which he 
had taken from Lewis Carroll's book. The fol- 
lowing were tried in turn with varied success : 
Dip " pen " into " ink " (5 links). Cover " eye " 
with " lid." This could be done with only three 



78 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

links. Make " tea " " hot " '(3 links). Among 
the harder ones were : Make the " poor " " rich " 
(5 links) ; turn the " army " into " navy " (7 
links) ; and " Cain " into " Abel " (8 links) ; 
"blue" into "pink" (9 links); turn " ape " 
into "man" (5 links). These were tried in 
their order, with varied success. Cecilia Owens, 
Angelina, and Mr. Fortescue counted up the 
most marks. 

We defer the solutions till another chapter, 
that our readers may have an opportunity to 
discover them. 

The shorter ones were quickly guessed. There 
was some trouble over " pen " and " ink," till it 
was found the word "e'en" would be allowed. 
Mrs. Chester thought it difficult to find any 
words, and Clara Fortescue could not under- 
stand what it was all about, and declared if 
you wanted to call blue pink, she did n't 
see why you should n't do so without all that 
trouble. 

" But do you not see- the wit involved in the 
changes ? " asked Mr. Fortescue. " In the chang- 
ing from blue to pink, do you not see that you 
have to pass through the word ' flag ' ? " 

" I am glad you recognize this," said Erastus. 
"If we had not already given so much time to 
this, I should like to show you the changes of 



FIFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 79 

' rogue ' into ' beast ; ' they are, as you say, so 
witty." 

" Do not tell us," said Mr. Fortescue ; " let 
us take it home, to work out the solution our- 
selves." 

" You . will find it difficult," said Erastus ; 
" there are ten links. Indeed, the • motto of 
* Doublets' is — 

*' * Double, double 
Toil and trouble.' " 



" Now, after all this intense mental exertion," 
said Mrs. Fortescue, " I, for one, should like a 
good romping game. Oh ! Aunt Cecilia, you 
have not given us your Fagot yet. Can't you 
suggest something that will stir us up and give 
us a little bodily exercise?" 

" I recall one romping game that I was fond of 
when I was a child. I learned it, I remember, 
from my beloved ' Girl's Own Book,' which in 
those days seemed an inexhaustible fountain of 
delightful suggestions. It was called — 

"Tierce, or Touch the Third. 

" The company must stand two and two in a 
circle, excepting in one place, where they stand 
three deep," and she made a diagram upon the 
paper she held in her hand ; " thus : — 



80 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 



" One person stands outside of the circle, and is 
on no account allowed to go within it. The ob- 
ject is to touch the third one, wherever she may 
stand ; but when he attempts this, she darts into 
the circle and takes her place before some of the 
others. Then the third one, who stands behind 
her, becomes the object; but she likewise slips 
into the circle, and takes her place . in front of 
another. The pursuer is thus led from point 
to point in the circle ; for he must always 
aim at one who forms the outside of a row of 
three. Any one caught, changes places with 
the pursuer." 

" Mr. Fortescue will recognize the old game of 
Fox and Geese," continued Aunt Cecilia. 

" Capital ! " exclaimed Aspasia ; " that will be 
just the thing ! Come, my friends, take your 
places in the circle." 

The younger members of the family quietly 
obeyed this summons ; but the older ones looked 
at each other doubtfully. 



FIFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 81 

" One advantage of this game is," said Aunt 
Cecilia, " that it can be done without much real 
romping." 

" Well, Chester, what do you say ? " asked Mr. 
FortescuQ. 

*' Oh ! let us try, and see what we can do. Per- 
haps we may find a little of the old fire smoulder- 
ing yet in the ashes." 

Some persuasion was needed to induce the 
matrons of the party to join the ranks of the 
runners ; but they were all soon taken possession 
of by the spirit of the game. The large hall into 
which the parlors opened, proved an admirable 
place for it. 

Aunt Cecilia proved so agile in this game that 
there was soon an effort made to keep her always 
outside. But this was very difficult. She could 
even outrun Timothy, with an unexpected quick- 
ness that entertained them all. For they had 
scarcely begun upon the game before Timothy 
and a party of his young friends appeared 
upon the scene, a little earlier than on the 
last occasion, and they were delighted to find 
something going on in which they could take 
part. 

In the midst of it all. Mr. Chester broke out 
with this — 

6 



82 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Conundrum. 

" Why does this smooth parqueted floor require 
skill in music ? " 

" Because if you don't C sharp, you will B flat." 

" I know that I am A natural for playing this 
game," said Mr. Fortescue, who had entered into_ 
the hilarity of the occasion with as much zest as 
the youngest. 

When, however, the laughter and exercise 
had quite taken away their breath, Cecilia 
Owens proposed that they should seat them- 
selves on the comfortable sofas and chairs that 
were standing invitingly about, while she ex- 
plained to them a game that she and Rodney 
had concocted the other day, when they were 
detained in the railroad car by a freight-train 
which was off the track. 

" I suppose," she began, " that you have all 
played ' I love my love with an A, because she 
is Amiable ; I hate her with an A, because she 
is Avaricious,' etc. The brilliant idea occurred 
to us to see how long a story we could make of 
words beginning with the same letter, and we 
decided to try the letter a." 

** Like the Minister's Cat," exclaimed Sally 
Chester. " You know one person begins, * The 
minister's cat is Artful,' and the rest have to 
go on with words all beginning with the same 



FIFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 83 

letter, — Avaricious, perhaps the next one says ; 
then Esthetic, Angelic, till you use up all the 
A's; and those who can't think of a word drop 
out of the game — ." 

" But, my dear," said Mr. Chester, " Miss 
Owens is giving us her Fagot. Don't let us 
have a brush between you. Miss Cecilia has 
the floor." 

" I was only going on to say," said Cecilia, 
" that we found the exercise so entertaining 
that I promised it to Aspasia to-night for my 
Fagot. I have the production with me : shall I 
read it to you as an illustration of the game ? " 

" Oh, do, by all means ! " responded many voices. 

Cecilia then read as follows : " I call the 
game," she said, — 

"Alliteration. 

" An angry assembly adjourned, after an ani- 
mated altercation, asking anxiously about an 
awkward antecedent, arising as accidentally as 
alarmingly, after an ardent attack, astonishing 
all attendants. Arthur Astor admired Archi- 
bald Atkins's apt answer, as Alfred Anthony 
announced an astounding antithesis, and an- 
noyed all attending adherents." 

The company were enthusiastic in their ap- 
proval of this story, and were eager to begin 
their own efforts. 



84 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" He wins the game whose story gives the 
highest count of different words," Cecilia ex- 
plained. 

After one or two successful trials of the game 
in this form, Rodney Owens proposed that some 
well-known anecdote should be narrated by all, 
following the same rules, and suggested the 
story of the youthful George Washington and 
his hatchet. After a little discussion, t was de- 
cided upon for the initial letter, as giving a bet- 
ter chance than most others for prepositions and 
pronouns. There was some opposition to under- 
taking such a preposterous thing ; but at last 
the faint-hearted took courage, and all went 
manfully to work. The results of their labors 
were handed to Mr. Owens, who read them 
aloud. The three specimens which follow were 
considered on the whole to be the best, — No. 1 
for its brevity ; No. 2 for the number and variety 
of its words ; and No. 3 for its great dramatic 
power : — 

No. 1. The Truthful Tot. — The truthful 
tot truncated the tree. " Tell truly, truncated 
thee this tree, twirling this tool ? " 

" To tell the truth, 't is true ! " 

No. 2. The Tree that Tottie thwacked. — 
They tooted the tin trumpet to tell them to tran- 
sport themselves to the tea-table. There tea, toast, 



FIFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 85 

tongue, tiny toothsome things transferred to 
treacle, tried to tempt their taste. 

The taskmaster turns threateningly to Tottie : 
" Tell the truth, Tottie, this time. The tree 
that these tiny treacled things thronged, 'tis 
thwacked to tatters. Think'st thou thy tren- 
chant truncheon thwacked the tree to tatters ? " 

" Tender taskmaster, tell-tale truth transfuses 
thy Tottie's tongue. Thy Tottie takes truth's 
transcendent track. 'Twas thy Tottie's trenchant 
truncheon that thwacked the tree to tatters ! " 

No. 3. The Thrice-told Tale. — The Tree. 
— Two TALK TOGETHER. — (The tiny talker.) 
" Time to take tea ? " 

(The tall talker testily.) " That tree, that tree ! " 

(Temptation tries the tiny talker.) " That 
tree, that tree, tumbled." 

Truth triumphs, the tempter takes the train. 
The tiny talker tells the tall talker the thing 
totally, truthfully. Tradition transcends truth. 

" I thought you always had Riddles at these 
parties," said Timothy to Clara Fortescue. " I 
like to guess Riddles, particularly when I can, 
and when they are as good as that one about 
Jack Horner, that you had last time." 

"I 'have a Riddle that these stories remind 
me of," answered Clara. 



86 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" We must have it," said Angelina. " I was 
wondering who would give us — 

'' A Riddle." 

" Here it is," said Clara ; " and I think the 

boys will like it : — 

** My First of the garden smacks, 
My Second of woodland whacks ; 
Sturdy and true, 
Are these two 

Homely old-fashioned facts. 
My Whole would appear 
To be sincere, 
But is not, for truth it lacks." 

" Before you go," said Aspasia, " do let us 
have a game of — 

"Mrs. Plinlimmins's Tea. 

" This game begins with the announcement 
of the first player that ' Mrs. Plinlimmins does 
not like Tea.' The next person inquires what 
she prefers ; and the next to him must reply with 
some article of food or drink in which the letter 
t does not appear. For instance, she cannot 
have potatoes, or toast, or tarts, but she can 
drink coffee or cocoa. Any one who gives a 
word containing the letter t is counted out. If 
the objection to the letter is not known by most 
of the players, very many are counted out early 
in the game. Later on, those who remain dis- 
cover the test." 



SIXTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Answer to Riddle. — Charade. — Crambo. — Comet 
Trick. — Dumb Crambo. — WiGaLBS. 

THE Fagot-party assembled once more at 
Mrs. Fortescue's. Two young nephews 
were staying with her, and she wanted to make 
use of their talents and capabilities for entertain- 
ment. But, as strangers, she did not call upon 
them first, and summoned Rodney Owens to 
bring out his Fagot. 

" I want my nephews,*' said Mrs. Fortescue, 
" to see what is the style of our intellectual en- 
tertainment ; and then they can furnish us some 
variety upon it." 

Sally Chester begged first to be allowed to 
make up her Charade Book that she was ar- 
ranging. "I propose to put in the solutions 
to the Doublets we had last time, before we 
forget them." 

Many others of the party wanted a copy of 
answers to Doublets, which will be given in 
another chapter. 



88 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Sally Chester had the answer to the Riddle 
given at tlie last party. Arthur and Cecilia had 
guessed it on the way home. 

" Cecilia guessed the ' Hoe,' and I guessed the 
' Axe/ " explained Arthur ; " and we invented 
this ' poetical ' answer : — 

*' With a Hoe or an Axe 
You can give hearty whacks ; 
And then if for fun 
You will put both in one, 
There are curious folks 
Who will call it a Hoax." 

" Somebody has proposed ' Season ' as the an- 
swer for the mysterious Charade," said Mrs. 
Fortescue. 

" Perhaps," suggested Mr. Fortescue, " uttered 
by a mother at the sea-shore, bathing with her 
family, and regretting her youthful successes." 

"Let me give an additional Charade," said 
Aspasia Brunton, — "a truly original one, never 
given or guessed before ; and you can try it while 
the other answers are being written down : — 

" Charade. 

" My First may become either beggar or king, 
Or what you will think a most wonderful thing, — 
A blundering housemaid or lady of ease, 
A sinner or saint, or whatever you please. 



SIXTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 89 

** Less suited to warm up the heart than the head, 
There is for my Second much good to be said ; 
It holds among poets an eminent place, 
And from every new subject it takes a new face. 

*' But whether I 'm monarch, or beggar, or dame. 
No matter how lightly they 've valued the same, 
Let them but lose it, they think, on their soul. 
There never was treasure so dear as my Whole.^^ 

" Pencils and paper to the front, my friends," 
said Rodney Owens, " for I am going to invite 
you to play the writing game of 

*' Crambo. 

" Each one of the company must be provided 
with a small sheet of paper and two inch-square 
bits. At the head of the sheet each player must 
write a question, and then fold the paper through 
the middle so as to conceal the writing. He 
must also write a word on each of the two small 
bits and fold them in a similar manner. The 
questions are then all put into one receptacle, 
and the words into another, and are afterwards 
handed to each player, who draws, at random, a 
question and two words. The game consists in 
making an answer to the question, in rhyme, 
introducing into it the two words which have 
been drawn. These words must be indicated by 
a line marked underneath." 



90 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" What sort of questions must we ask ? " que- 
ried Aunt Cecilia. 

"Anything you choose, — the more absurd the 
better." 

" Must the words we write have any connection 
with our question ? " asked Arthur Chester. 

"Just as you please. The chances are that 
the words will get separated from their legiti- 
mate question, so it does not matter what you 
write." 

The questions and words were soon written 
and distributed, and were read with laughter and 
exclamations of dismay ; and on all sides decla- 
rations were heard : " Oh, I never can get these 
words into my answer ! " or, " Gracious ! here is 
a word I never heard of ; I shall have to guess 
at its meaning. I suppose I shall betray myself 
as the writer if I ask for any information." Si- 
lence, however, soon settled down upon the 
party. Some of the more inexperienced writers 
were seen counting out the syllables on their 
fingers, and those who finished their task first, 
were vehemently entreated by their less fortu- 
nate neighbors not to speak, for fear of distract- 
ing their minds. When the papers were all 
finished, they were given to Rodney Owens to 
read aloud, while the listeners tried to guess the 
author of each one. 



SIXTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 91 

We give below some examples of the success 
of the players in overcoming the difficulties of 
the game : — 

Question, — Where has your back-hair gone ? 

Words. — Nihilist ; catastrophe. • 

One day I went to Russia, 
For the world I wished to see; 

And there a plotting Nihilist 
Laid violent hands on me. 

Alas ! that plotting Nihilist 

Laid violent hands on me ; 
And soon there followed hard upon, 

A sad catastrophe. 

Such a terrible catastrophe, 

I wished I 'd not been born ; 
For they put me in a convict's dress, 

And my back-hair was gone ! 

Question. — What is your name ? 
Words, — Apollo ; melancholy. 

Apollo is my favorite name ; 

I ^m melancholy quite, 
To think I was not born a boy, 

And named Apollo Wright. 

Question. — Is life worth the living ? 
Words, — Sun-flower ; switched. 

To one who reposes 

On lilies and roses. 

Who crowns all the hours 

With aesthetic sun-flowers, 

Life may be thought worth the living. 



92 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

But to him who is pitched 

Out of doors and well switched, 

Who is hungry and cold, 

And hates young and old, 

'T would hardly be thought worth the giving. 

Question, — Have you seen the comet ? 
Words. — Symphony ; calf. 

They saw the comet's streaming tail and head, — 

A symphony of color in the sky ; 
They called to me, I would not leave my bed. 

So missed its glory, — such a calf was I ! 

Question. —^ Should you prefer being married 
in San Francisco or Japan? 

Words. — Hungry, and Forget-me-nots. 

Were I to marry in Japan, 
I 'm much afraid my slant-eyed man 
Might make me live on little mice, 
Fried or boiled, and served with rice. 

But in my own, my native land, 
My Yankee spouse would not command 
His hungry wife to try such food, — 
He 'd know she would not find it good. 

A more aesthetic taste he 'd try 
First to awake, and then supply; 
He 'd send me books and music new, 
Forget-me-nots and roses too. 

To San Francisco then I '11 go 
With a fascinating youth I know, — 
I 'm sure he is a nicer man 
Than could be found in all Japan. 



SIXTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 93 

" What can we do," said John Minturn to his 
brother, " to come up to the brilliant efforts of 
our friends ? " 

" I think we have already recognized some of 
your efforts," said Mr. Chester, " in the witty 
poems you have given us." 

" But why should not we have," asked Regi- 
nald Minturn, " some 'Bumh Crambo ' ? I never 
understood why the game should have the same 
name as Writing Crambo, except that it has to 
do with rhymes." 

'* Writing Crambo is sometimes called Bouts 
HimSs,^^ said Rodney Owens. 

" And in Dumb Crambo you act the rhymes," 
said Reginald, " in scenes where the actors must 
not speak, but carry out the meaning of their 
word in pantomime. It is very different from 
the writing game." 

" Ah ! give us the rules of the game," said 
Mrs. Fortescue, " and we will try it. We have 
to-night a full force of young people to do our 
acting." 

" I should like first," said John Minturn " to 
show you a puzzle with cards, or a trick, if you 
choose to call it so, if you have not had it before. 
I call it the ' Comet Trick.' " 

"Do let us see it," said Aspasia. 

John Minturn gave the rules of the — 



94 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Comet Trick. 

" Lay out on the table any convenient number 
of cards, in a form supposed to represent a 
comet ; thus : — 



o^^^o 




o._.^^^^o^ 




o 

□ 
o 

being careful to make a distinct separation be- 
tween the head and the tail of your figure. I 
will then go out of the room, and one of you 
must fix upon any number you choose, greater 
than the number of cards in the tail, and then 
count that number upon the cards in this way. 
Supposing the number fixed upon to be thirty- 
one. You must begin your count at the end of 
the tail, counting each card in that and into the 
top of the head, continuing to count round the 



SIXTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS, 95 

head until you have counted thirty-one. Then, 
calling that card one, you must count back round 
the head until you have again counted thirty- 
one. Carefully note which card your count ends 
upon, — in this case it is the ace of clubs, — and 
when I return to the room I can tell which it is." 
After making a slight alteration in the number 
of the cards, he left the room, and Mr. Fortescue 
counted twenty-five upon the cards, carefully 
following the directions, pointing out to all the 
company that the king of diamonds was the card 
that his last count had ended with. He then 
recalled John Minturn, who walked up to the 
table, and after scarcely a moment's thought put 
his finger upon the king of diamonds, — to the 
great surprise and mystification of the rest of the 
party. He then offered to go out again, telling 
them that he would change the arrangement of 
the cards as before, or that one of them, before 
fixing upon a number, might do so, after he had 
left the room, making the head of the comet 
smaller and the tail longer, or vice versa; and 
that even then he would be able to indicate the 
right card. This was done, another count made, 
and John Minturn again recalled. After but a 
moment's hesitation he put his finger on the ace 
of hearts ; and again this designation proved to 
be correct. 



96 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

He was now beset on every side to tell how 
the trick was done ; and after a few more trials 
of his skill he consented to disclose his secret : 

" When 1 came back into the room I counted 
first the number of cards in the tail; then I 
counted backwards in the head as many cards as 
there were in the tail, — which gave me the right 
card. For instance, when I first arranged the 
cards" (see illustration), "there were nine in 
the tail ; I began at the end of the head farthest 
from the tail, and counted backwards, always 
keeping in the head nine cards. The ninth one 
was the one that my original count ended with. 
The count would always end upon the same 
card, no matter what number was chosen, if the 
arrangement of the number of cards in the head 
and tail is not altered." 

A few more trials were made with this expla- 
nation. 

"And now for the acting game," exclaimed 
Sally Chester. 

Eeginald Minturn proceeded to explain — 

Dumb Crambo. 

The company must be divided into two par- 
ties, one of which is to go out of the room. The 
other party must think of a word which is to be 
guessed by the party outside, who will have a 



SIXTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 9T 

clew to the word by being told some word that it 
rhymes with, and the party who has gone out 
is to attempt to represent in pantomime the 
word which has been given. 

Clara Fortescue was one of the party of will- 
ing actors who went out first, as she could assist 
in finding the properties necessary for dressing 
up and for scenic effects ; and they soon declared 
themselves prepared for the word they were to 
guess. Mr. Chester announced it as rhyming 
with the word "line." After a short prepara- 
tion the young men of the dramatis personce all 
flocked into the part of the room assigned them 
near the door, on all fours, clumsily rambling 
about, and making a most disconsolate mooing. 

" It is not hine, it is not Hwe," exclaimed the 
observers ; and the troop receded. 

" I should hardly call that effort a panto- 
mime," said Mr. Chester ; "- but I should not 
wish to criticise so admirable a performance." 

" And pray let us not recognize their guesses 
too soon," said Mrs. Fortescue ; " let us see a 
whole scene through, — we ought not to lose any 
of the representation." 

For the next scene, Clara Fortescue came in 
with neat white apron and cap, and drawing out 
a small table, proceeded to lay upon it a table- 
cloth and plates. Three of the actors came in 
7 



98 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

and seated themselves, and busied themselves 
with knives and forks, till somebody exclaimed : 
" No, it is not 6?me." 

An elaborate representation of a fire-engine 
got up by Reginald, — the rest of the actors be- 
ing a terrified crowd, through which he hurried 
wildly, was pronounced not to be the word. 

Two or three young ladies came in to repre- 
sent a vine clinging to each other, — first crouch- 
ing on the ground, then rising gradually, stretch- 
ing out their arms, and spreading their fingers ; 
and presently Reginald appeared with a basket and 
pair of scissors, and, in an unexpected way, found 
bunches of grapes hanging from their fingers. 

" It is not vine^ it is not vine^^ the spectators 
reluctantly confessed, as they were sorry to put 
an end to the scene. 

The next scene took a long time to prepare, 
and gave Mr. Fortescue an opportunity to perfect 
himself in the comet trick. 

When the door was opened, a train of figures 
entered, all in female dress, in long, flowing gar- 
ments, — purple, red, yellow, blue, — artistically 
arranged. One bore a mask and a shepherd's 
crook ; another carried a scroll in one hand ; one 
on tiptoe, crowned with flowers, lifted a tam- 
bourine above her head as she danced into the 
room ; another, wearing a wreath of laurel, held 



SIXTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 99 

a trumpet in one hand ; another, with a crown of 
flowers, held a flute ; another had a tragic mask 
upraised in her hand ; the next came with a 
cithara ; and the next, half-veiled, held the finger 
of her right hand on her lips ; while the last 
came in poising a large celestial globe in one of 
his hands, for, though clad in female garments, 
the figure holding it must have been possessed 
of manly strength. 

In low tones Mr. Chester counted them one by 
one as they ranged themselves side by side in 
classic attitudes. 

Mr. Fortescue at last said : " In pity to Urania, 
trembling with the weight of his celestial globe, 
we ought to say it is not the tuneful nine I " 

" But do stay a while," exclaimed Mrs. Ches- 
ter, "for us to admire your marvellous cos- 
tumes. Where did you find them, masks and 
all?" 

" They have been family property for a long 
time," explained Clara Fortescue, who stepped 
lightly forward, tambourine in hand, as Terpsi- 
chore ; " but Reginald painted in the comic and 
tragic expressions." 

Room now had to be made for the actors in 
the next scene, — a set of young men who ap- 
peared in rough costumes, with pickaxes and 
shovels in their hands, and seemed so ready to 
attack Mrs. Fortescue' s carpet and rugs that she 



100 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

exclaimed eagerly : " You are right ; it is, it is a 
mine J' 

The next party of actors had occasion for some 
very simple scenes; and Reginald added this 
further advice for playing the game : — 

"Do not attempt to give out words difficult 
to act, under the idea that you want to try the 
capacities of those who are to represent it. On 
the contrary, for the pleasure of the game you 
want to bring out a great variety of scenes, that 
shall take time as well as talent to represent, 
and therefore pick out a word that has a large 
number of rhymes." 

While the actors were preparing for this last 
scene some others had been amusing themselves 
with the game of — 

Wiggles. 

Some one in the company marks on a bit of 
paper a crooked or straight line. The others 
copy this line, and each one must develop it into 
a picture, so that the line forms part of a finished 
picture. The " Wiggles " should be outlined more 
strongly than the rest. An amusing variety of 
sketches is obtained. These valuable sketches 
were interrupted, as some of the artists were 
called out to assist as the " tuneful nine ; " but 
before leaving, a variety of pictures were shown, 
— all suggested by the same " Wiggle." 



SEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Word- Making. — Hide in Sight. — Stop. — Solutions 
TO Doublets. — Going to Jerusalem. — Gorilla. 

EARLY in June the Owens had established 
themselves at a large hotel for the sum- 
mer. Mrs. Owens was an invalid, and was glad 
of some quiet days in the large rooms before 
the crowd appeared ; and the Fagot-party was 
summoned to enjoy a lovely June evening on the 
broad piazzas of the hotel, which was not yet 
crowded. But when the evening came, it was 
one of the New England June evenings of the 
other sort. Not even the most hardy ventured 
upon the piazza with the thickest of wraps, for 
there was nothing to be seen, and only the moist 
consciousness to be felt of the drip, drip, of a 
drizzly rain. 

" An occasion for Fagots indeed," said Mr. For- 
tescue as they gathered round a cheerful wood- 
fire glowing in the large fireplace. 

" And an occasion," said Mr. Chester, " to 
bring out the summer hotel games, which are 
needed for the summer evenings, when we have 



102 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

to stay in-doors by the fire and the lamps, in 
spite of millers and mosquitoes, — such summer 
evenings as, I am sorry to say, are frequent in 
our New England climate." 

" How forlorn those people look across the 
room ! They are new arrivals, and I do not 
believe they know a soul here. Let us invite 
them to join us in our games," proposed kindly 
Mrs. Owens, — a suggestion which was cordially 
acceded to by her party. 

" What are our Fagots to be for this even- 
ing?" queried Mr. Chester. 

" Mamma is eager to introduce you to her 
favorite game of ' Word-making,' or ' Give and 
Take,' as we call it," responded Cecilia. " These 
are the rules for 

" Word-Making, or Logomachy. 

" 1. Each player must be furnished with a 
sufficient number of letters, turned the blank 
side up. 

" 2. Each player, in his turn, puts a letter into 
the middle of the table, and may form a word 
of not less than four letters from those thus col- 
lected, either before or after he adds a new letter 
from his own store. He may continue to draw 
new letters so long as he can make use of them 
in accordance with the rules of the game. 



SEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 103 

*' 3. Each person may take away, and add to his 
own, any word which has been made by another 
person, if by adding one or more letters it can be 
turned into a radically different word. A word 
may not be taken away by changing a verb into 
its own participle, or a noun into its adjective, 
although one may make such changes in his own 
word if he please. 

" 4. A player may take any word from another 
player which, without adding a new letter, can, 
by changing the combination of letters, be made 
into a new word. A player may protect himself 
against this loss by declaring the words that can 
be so made when the first combination of letters 
is laid upon the table. Rule 3 applies to all 
words thus declared. 

" 5. No proper names, or abbreviations, or 
words not to be found in a standard dictionary, 
are allowed. 

" 6. That player beats who first makes ten 
words; or, if preferred, he beats who, after one 
of the party has made ten words, can count the 
greatest number of letters in his words. 

" We prefer the last way of reckoning, because 
it offers a premium on long words, and is better 
fun. Now, mamma, if you will invite the forlorn 
party to join us, we will begin. There will be 
so many of us that we had better have two or 



104 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

three tables, as it is tiresome to have too many 
at one." 

The strangers gratefully accepted Mrs. Owens's 
invitation, and the tables were soon arranged. 
We will follow the fortunes of one, to show how 
the game was played. 

The letters A, c, t, s, were lying on the table, 
when Miss Jones drew an e. She ;went over all 
the combinations that occurred to her, without 
being able to make a word, while Mrs. Owens's 
practised eye soon arranged them into c-h-e-s-t. 
Mr. Fortescue drew v ; but there was nothing to 
be done with that. Mrs. Chester followed with 
1/, *' There is surely nothing to be done with 
that," she remarked as she laid it on the table. 

'' Ah ! you were too hasty that time," said As- 
pasia Brunton. " What does s-c-y-t-h-e spell ? 
I will thank you for your word, Mrs. Owens." 

Then followed r, t, o, g. 

"Will grot be allowed ?" asked Mrs. Fortescue. 

"No, that is a contraction," answered Mrs. 
Owens. 

Mrs. Chester next drew e, and made r-o-t-e. 
Aspasia Brunton drew w, and took it away from 
her with w-r-o-t-e. As Mr. Wyllis looked at the 
word his face brightened, and as soon as Aspasia 
had laid her second letter on the table, he eagerly 
extended his hand and swept her word before 



SEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 105 

himself, saying, " Excuse me. Miss Brunton, but 
I can make t-o-w-e-r out of those letters ; and, as 
you did not declare it, I suppose it is mine." 

" Certainly, Mr. Wyllis ; and I yield it with 
pleasure to a foeman worthy of my steel." 

But it would be tedious to follow the game 
farther ; suffice it to say that the longest word, 
" predicament," was made by Mrs. Owens, and it 
underwent the following changes before it arrived 
at that distinction: D-i-c-e, E-d-i-c-^, P-r-e- 
d-i-c-t, F-T-e-d'i'C-a-t-e, P-r-e-d-i-c-a-7?2-e-w-t. 

Clara Fortescue introduced her promised Fagot 
by saying : "It was in just such a room as this 
that I first played a game sometimes called 
* Prominent Objects ; ' but I prefer the name of 

« Hide in Sight. 

" In this game the whole company have to go 
out of the room, leaving only one. It is the bus- 
iness of this person to hide a piece of money, — 
for instance, like this twenty-five-cent piece ; only 
it must not be hidden out of sight. It can be 
put plainly in view, on the table or the back of a 
chair. But as the piece is small, it will not 
readily be seen. The whole company is then 
ushered in, and everybody begins to look for the 
piece of money, — usually in the most improbable 
places. But whoever does find it must make no 



106 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

exclamation about it, must not even appear to 
have seen it, but must quietly go and sit down in 
a chair and say nothing about it. The fun for 
that person then begins, because it is so enter- 
taining to see how the different people take the 
discovery they have made. Almost every one 
gives a little start when he sees it, then looks 
round to see if anybody saw him start, then re- 
covers himself, and begins to put on a very un- 
conscious, dSgage kind of air, looks round a little 
more, and then sits down. When everybody has 
found the quarter, of course everybody is sitting 
down. But the last two or three to find it have 
a dreadful time of it, because they are watched 
by all the rest, and their behavior on finding 
it is, I am sorry to say, apt to be subject of 
derision. 

" That is the old game of Huckle-buckle-bean- 
stalk," said Mr. Jones, " that I used to play in 
New Jersey ; and the last person to find the 
thing always exclaimed, ' Huckle-buckle-bean- 
stalk!'" 

" Oh ! let us play it that way," said Clara. 

" But, my dear," said Mr. Fortescue to Clara, 
" where do you propose that we shall go ? We 
none of us want to leave this cheering fire, and 
we should certainly be lost in the deserted 
halls." 



SEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 107 

At this moment it was announced that the 
moon had appeared, and could be seen over the 
distant sea ; and comfortable wraps were provid- 
ed, and all but Mrs. Owens were forced out upon 
the piazza, while it did not take Clara long to place 
her quarter on the top of one of the round-headed 
andirons, where it was brilliantly lighted up by 
the sparkling fire. She soon summoned the 
party in, shivering in their admiration of the 
scene outside, and glad to leave even the moon. 
A great many went directly to the high mantel- 
piece to look for the piece of money, quite over- 
looking it below. Mr. Fortescue alone, going 
to warm his hands, in the first moment saw it. 
His daughter, who was watching him, saw him 
give a quiet smile, then turn to walk round the 
room, coming back to seat himself in front of 
the fire. 

" Mr. Fortescue has found it ! " exclaimed Sally 
Chester ; " and — let me see — he was over here 
by this chess-table. It must be somewhere under 
the legs of the table." 

Mrs. Owens, sitting by the fireplace, was much 
amused to see how one after another came up to 
the genial warmth of the fire, then gave a vague 
glance at the mantelpiece, and then went off to 
wander round the room. The few who found it, 
silently went and seated themselves, and, as Clara 



108 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

had stated, found great enjoyment in watching 
the wanderings of the rest. Mrs. Owens could 
not avoid giving an occasional hint when some 
one now and then closely studied the vases on 
the mantelpiece, without giving a glance to the 
brilliantly lighted coin below. 

Sally Chester was the very last to seat herself, 
exclaiming triumphantly, " Huckle-buckle-bean- 
stalk ! '* amidst the amusement of all the rest. 
"I never should have found it," she declared, 
" if it had not been for a kindly glance of dear 
Mrs. Owens, turning my eyes to the top of the 
andiron." 

" I wish somebody would invent a new round 
game of cards," said Mr. Chester, "for these 
chilly winter evenings that we have in the 
summer." 

" If I might venture to offer a Fagot," said Mr. 
Wyllis, one of the strangers who had joined geni- 
ally in the previous games, " I should be glad to 
teach you a game, if you don't know it already, 
called ' Stop.' " 

" I have been wanting to learn it," said Mr. 
Chester. 

Mr. Wyllis then proceeded to give the rule for 

Stop. 

" Place the honors, including the ten-spot, of 



SEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 109 



diamonds from a pack not to be used otherwise ; 
thus : — 



♦ ♦♦ 

♦a* 

"1 [ffll IB 



" Now take another pack, and remove the six- 
spot and the eight-spot of diamonds. This leaves 
the seven and nine as ' stop ' cards. Provide a 
pool with an unlimited number of beans or count- 
ers of any kind. Each person takes twenty- 
five counters. Cut for deal, the lowest dealing. 
The player at the right of the dealer ' dresses ' 
the cards, while the latter is dealing, in this 
manner : he places, from the dealer's pile, five 
counters on the ace, four on the king, three on 
the queen, two on the knave, one on the ten. 
The dealer meanwhile deals out all the cards, 
except the eight and six of diamonds, which 
are set aside and not used at all. 

" The player at the left of the dealer begins 
the game. He lays down a card in front of him. 
It is best to begin with the lowest of a sequence. 
Then the player holding the next card in suit 



110 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

lays down said card in front of himself, and so on 
until the ace is reached, which is always a good 
card^ there being nothing higher. A good card is 
one of which the next higher one of its suit has 
been played. The advantage of holding a good 
card, and remembering it as such when he holds 
it in his hand, is, that when played, it entitles 
the player to another lead, and the object is to 
get rid of all your cards. Supposing a player lays 
down the eight of clubs, and the suit runs along, 
nine, ten, etc., in order, whoever holds the seven- 
spot in his hand should remember that the eight 
has been< played, and that the seven is a good 
card thereafter ; and when his turn comes he can 
play it, and thereby secure another lead. Though 
if he hold smaller clubs as well, it would usually 
be better to lead up to his seven by playing the 
small cards first, in which way he disposes of 
more cards. Remember that the five of dia- 
monds is always -a good card^ for the reason that 
the six is out of the game. 

" Stop-cards, which are the seven and nine of 
diamonds, are played thus ; namely : — 

" Supposing a player leads with the six of clubs, 
and holds either of the stop-cards. On playing 
his six of clubs he can say ' Stop ! ' quickly, be- 
fore any one can play the seven-spot, put down 
his stop-card, and lead again with some other 



SEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. Ill 

suit. But it would be bad play to use up one's 
stop-card so suddenly as that. Lead from a 
suit of which you have several, and stop the play 
witli your stop-card when you have played all of 
that suit you hold, unless there is too great a gap 
between the value of your cards. 

" If you have no cards between, say, the six and 
king or queen, it would be better to stop at the 
six rather than run the risk of another player 
getting in his stop-card before the king is 
reached. A stop-card cannot be played except 
after a previous play of the one who holds it. 

" The player who gets rid of all his cards first, 
wins that hand ; and each of the others are 
bound to pay him as many counters as they 
have cards remaining in their hands. During 
the game, as the cards are played corresponding 
with the diamonds exposed in the centre of the 
table, the counters upon those cards in the cen- 
tre belong to the player of the corresponding 
card. On the other hand, when one player has 
played all his cards, and the hand is done, if the 
counters have not been swept from the centre 
cards, the players who still hold the correspond- 
ing cards in their hands have to pay on said 
middle cards one counter for each correspond- 
ing card they hold. When one loses all his 
counters, he borrows twenty-five from the pool, 



112 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

and a record is kept of it. The possession of 
the most counters at the close of the game dis- 
tinguishes the victor." 

This game was played with much interest late 
into the night at two of the large tables in the 
room, while some of the party busied them- 
selves with the intricacies of Doublets. 

We give the promised solutions for the Doub- 
lets, as Cecilia Owens found herself explaining 
the game to Mr. AYyllis, and demanded them of 
Sally Chester. Mr. Fortescue again took occa- 
sion to express his delight at the witty sequence 
of words connecting " Rogue " and " Beast." 

" The next thing," said Mrs. Fortescue, " will 
be to require a story containing also the con- 
necting words." 

" Pray do not add to the intricacies of the 
game," said Clara Fortescue ; " I am one of 
those who find it sufficiently hard." 

Solutions of Doublets. 

Pen Eye Tea Poor Army Caix Blue Apr Kogub 



e'en 


dye 


sea 


boor 


arms chin 


flue 


are 


vogue 


eel 


die 


set 


book 


aims shin 


floe 


ere 


vague 


ell 


did 


sot 


rook 


dims spin 


flog 


err 


value 


ill 


Lid 


Hot 


rock 


dams spun 


flag 


ear 


valve 


ilk 






rick 


dame spud 


flat 


mar 


halve 


Ink 






Rich 


name sped 
nave aped 
Navy abed 
Abel 


feat 
peat 
pent 
pint 
Pink 


Man 


helve 

heave 

leave 

lease 

least 

Beast 



SEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 113 

Before breaking up, some of the party insisted 
upon a lively game to close with, and decided 
upon — 

Going to Jerusalem. 

For this the players place a row of chairs 
facing alternately, arranging that there shall be 
left one more person than there are chairs. 
Some one plays upon the piano, and the company 
march around the chairs. When the music stops, 
everybody sits quickly down. One player is left 
over, without a seat : he is considered out. One 
of the chairs is then taken away, and the game 
proceeds, a chair being removed every time one 
player is left out. At last one chair is left to be 
struggled for by the remaining players. 

The large parlor of the hotel was very suitable 
for this game, and a lively party kept it up till 
a late hour. 

A game was introduced by one of the hotel 
guests, to be played the next day, which proved 
a rainy one, suitable for the exciting game of 

Grorilla. 

One of the company is chosen by counting out, 
and becomes the Gorilla. He directly begins to 
chase the rest of the party, and each player must 
continually hoot and shout, to show he is not 
the Gorilla, who is always silent. The person 
caught becomes Gorilla. 
8 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Potato Eace. — Meal-Bag Eace. — Three-Legged 
Eace. — Bean -Bag Contest. — Clothes - Pins. — 
Shouting Poets. — Quotations. — Conundrums. — 
Charade. — Problems. — Acted Solution op Prob- 
lems. 

IT was on the broad stretch of a beautiful 
beach that the eighth Fagot-party met. Mr. 
and Mrs. Chester found that they could summon 
easily all the members of the party in July to 
the seaside hotel where they were passing the 
summer. Mr. Chester declared that Fagots were 
needed at such a time as well as in winter, to 
light the fire under. the kettle for cooking the 
chowder. The Owens party came perfectly well 
from their summer abiding place, bringing with 
them Mr. Wyllis, the Smiths, Mr. Jones, etc. 
The Bruntons appeared in their yacht, and the 
Fortescues were down for a few weeks' stay 
with their son Tom, at home with them for the 
holidays. 

"We have given over to Tom," said Mrs. 
Fortescue, " the management of the Fagots of 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 115 

our family, as he proposes, with his friends, to 
show us some athletic games suitable for the 
seashore and beach." 

" One of their * athletic games,' so called," 
said Mr. Fortescue, " which they indulged in 
yesterday, I conclude that our guests would 
hardly care to pursue to-day. They walked 
down to Quidneck Point — nineteen miles away 
— and back. But they seem still fresh enough 
to conduct our sports to-day." 

A convenient place for those who were to be 
the lookers-on of these games was found on the 
point of rocks that formed one end of the beach, 
making the part of an admirable amphitheatre. 

" What are they doing ? " asked Sally Chester, 
as Tom, Rodney Owens, and others were seen 
taking a basket of potatoes and some pails to 
the smooth beach in front of them. "Do we 
begin our picnic now? I thought we were to 
have the games first," she exclaimed. 

In reply, Tom Fortescue explained the rules 
of the — 

Potato Race. 

" A course of about fifty yards is to be marked 
out, on which the runners are to start, on a line 
about six feet apart from each other. Along 
the course of each runner a row of potatoes is 



116 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE, 

previously placed at equal distances of about 
five yards. At the starting-point of each runner 
an empty pail is placed, and his business is to 
run along the line, pick up one of the potatoes, — 
any one he chooses, — and carry it back and put 
it in the pail ; then he must go back for each 
potato separately, making a separate course for 
each. The runner who has first brought back 
all the potatoes in his course into his pail wins 
the game." 

The arrangements for this race were quickly 
made, judges were chosen, and a most amusing 
struggle followed, as the race was entered into 
by a number of the young men. 

One began by picking up the potato nearest, 
and going back with it, — which disturbed the 
runner next him, who saw over his shoulder that 
his competitor seemed to be filling his pail first ; 
so he stopped at the next potato and ran back 
with it. One or two grew much confused with 
this going and coming, and lost time in occasion- 
ally dropping a potato. Arthur Chester thought 
to gain time by flinging his potato into the pail 
from a distance ; but as it fell short of his mark, 
he had to go back and pick it up again. 

Rodney Owens won the race. He steadily 
kept on to the most distant potato while he was 
fresh; then his courses grew shorter and shorter, 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 117 

as his strength and wind were less, and he 
dropped his last potato into his pail far ahead 
of the rest. 

" I ought to have known as much," said Tom 
Fortescue ; " but I had that nimble little Arthur 
Chester next me, and I tried racing with him. 
I think he would have won the race if he had 
not tried the trick of flinging his potato into the 
pail." 

" This would be excellent practice for the 
chase of Atalanta," said Mr. Chester, — " doubt- 
less got up with the intent of beating her next 
time." 

The leaders of the games were already pre- 
paring for the next course, to be entered upon 
by some of the young men who had not tried for 
the potato race. This was the — 

Meal-Bag Race. 

Some meal-bags are provided for this race, 
large enough to come up to the chin, and each 
contestant must have one tied up over his 
shoulders ; and after being lifted and placed at 
the beginning of the course, he must try his best 
to outrun his competitors. 

This trial created great amusement. Not many 
entered upon it, and one or two of these collapsed 
at the outset. The method of progress was by a 



118 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

series of jumps, and the motions were all most 
grotesque. The athletic Eustace Brunton won 
this race, — if race it could be called ; it surely 
was not to the swift, but to the most persever- 
ing. Arthur Chester came near winning this. 
He rolled over at the first start, picked himself 
up again, gave some gigantic leaps ; but at the 
last could not even extricate himself from his 
meal-bag without help. The spectators declared 
themselves as exhausted as the performers, with 
their laughter at the whole scene. 

But after a short rest there was announced the 

Three-legged Race. 

In this, two C9ntestants run one course, for 
the right leg of one is tied firmly to the left leg of 
another, just below the knee and at the ankle. 
The competitors start at the same time, and the 
two who hold out the longest win the game. 

The contestants were kindly carried to the 
starting-place and put in an upright position. 
The unsuccessful efforts of some of them were 
exceedingly amusing. Mr. Wyllis and Mr. Jones 
went on with great swiftness, and it appeared 
they were an " old team " and had practised the 
art before. The rest plunged to right and left^ 
came down on their knees, and an occasional 
couple had to be ignominiously picked up. Small 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 



119 



Jack Chester had insisted upon being tied to 
the tall Hector Brunton, and their struggles 
were very entertaining. 

" It is terribly like married life," Mr. Ches- 
ter ventured to say within hearing of his wife. 
" "What shipwrecks, to be sure ! " 

" But see how good-nature carries Jack through 
with his philosophic partner," said kindly Mrs. 
Owens, who had been propped up in a comfort- 
able seat of cushions against the rocks. 

Arthur Chester, who had been resting after his 
great efforts in the previous race, amused him- 
self with trying to make 
a sketch of two of the par- 
ty, as after his successes 
in historical pictures he 
,was now wont to adven- 
ture in that line. We 
present the result of his 
efforts. 

" What a pity some of 
our young ladies should 
not participate in some of these trials," said Mr. 
Chester. " If you were only in practice, I should 
suggest an Atalanta race directly. I have no 
doubt you are all burning for some compe- 
tition. " 

" I foresaw some such suggestion," answered 




120 FAQOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Cecilia Owens, " and have brought my bean-bags 
with me for the 

" Bean-Bag Contest. 

"You see my large basket? I have twenty- 
four bags in it, — twelve yellpw, and twelve deep- 
wine color, — which you will need for the game. 
They are eight inches long, and six wide, and 
each contains half a pint of beans. Begin by 
choosing your leaders. They must be the most 
agile members of the party." 

Mr. Owens and Mr. Brunton were unanimously 
elected to fill that important position. 

" Now," continued Cecilia, turning to the two 
young men, " you must choose your constituents. 
Mr. Owens, will you make the first choice ; and 
Mr. Brunton, will you make the second ? and so 
on alternately, until all the company have been 
chosen. 

" Next, we must find something to serve as 
tables, upon which to pile our bags, at each end 
of the line. Ah ! here is a flat rock which will 
do admirably at one end of the course. Mr. 
Owens, you may stand by it, if you please, with 
the yellow bags, and Mr. Brunton with the wine- 
colored ones. Put this hamper on top of these 
baskets at the other end of the opposite line. 
Now you leaders must marshal your forces in 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 121 

two lines, facing each other, extending from the 
rock to the baskets. At a given signal each 
leader seizes a bag with one hand, passes it 
through the other to his neighbor, who passes it 
from one hand to the other to his neighbor, and 
so on down the whole line. The last person in 
the line lays it down on the table ; that is, on the 
baskets. In the mean while the leaders have 
seized each bag in his pile, in quick succession, 
and passed them down the lines. When the bags 
have all reached the end of the lines and been 
laid on the table, they are set in motion again 
up the lines to their starting-point. That side 
scores one whose bags are first gathered in at the 
starting-point. Then the contest begins again, 
and is continued until the game is won. That 
side is victorious which first scores five points." 
The game proved very exciting to the players, 
and the few spectators who had gathered to look 
on thought it an exhilarating sight as they 
watched the bright-colored bags flying down the 
lines, amid the shouts and laughter of the play- 
ers. Every now and then one would drop, and 
the unfortunate player would have to stop to 
pick it up, — to the infinite satisfaction of the 
opposing party. Their triumph, however, would 
be short-lived, for in a moment the adverse color 
would be seen reposing on the sand ; but only for 
an instant. With eager but graceful motions it 



122 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

would be snatched up and sent hurrying on its 
way again. The spe^jtators remarked to one 
another that the girls had never looked so pretty 
as they did with their sparkling eyes and glow- 
ing cheeks and hair tossed about by the sea- 
breezes. 

" There is a variety of this game," said Eustace 
Brunton, " that gives an added excitement if one 
is needed. Instead of bean-bags, bundles of 
clothes-pins can be used, which are more difficult 
to hold than bean-bags, and so — " 

But his words were interrupted by the quick 
motions of Aspasia, who had left the circle as he 
began to speak, and who now returned with a 
basket in her hand, and lifting the cover, she 
showed that it was full of — 

'' Clothes-pins. 

"I brought them," she explained, "because 
Cecilia told me of her plan, and I think we shall 
like to try the game with clothes-pins." 

Enough were found to start upon the game, 
which was played as described in the " Bean-bag " 
game ; but great amusement was excited by the 
difficulty of grasping the clothes-pins, — one or 
another would fall, and the desperate player 
found it difficult to seize the clothes-pin again ; 
and indeed the game ended in distracted con- 
fusion. 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 123 

When at last they all sank down on the sand 
exhausted, and panting with exercise and laugh- 
ter, they agreed that no game was ever so well 
calculated to break up formality or stiffness. 

" We need practice in that," panted Eustace 
Brunton. 

" As we are all sitting in rows," said Angelina 
Brunton, " we might try the game of — 

^'Shouting Poets. 

" The company should be placed in two rows, 
sitting opposite each other. Some one begins 
with a quotation, and the other side must guess 
the poet before he finishes reciting. If the 
guess is wrong, the one who gives it drops 
from the game ; or if the opposite person fails to 
make answer, he drops from the game. If he 
guesses right, he must begin immediately with a 
quotation in his turn, and the shouting on each 
side must follow continuously without break." 

Angelina had scarcely finished her description 
when Mr. Erastus gave a quotation, which was 
instantly guessed, and a shower of lines and 
their authors followed. But after a time so 
many failed that camp-stools, rocks, baskets that 
had served for seats, were forsaken, and only a 
few competitors remained ; the ever-unanswered 
quotation, — 



124 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" Though lost to sight, to memory dear," 
being the last. 

"We have had such good practice in this," 
suggested Cecilia Owens, " we might try the re- 
verse form of the game, — where you have to 
give the quotation when a poet's name is called ; 
the game of — 

" Quotations. 

" You must seat yourselves in a semicircle, 
which is a convenient arrangement for the game. 
Each player chooses some poet for whom he is 
to respond when called upon. Some one must — 
I will, if you like — take one of these plates, and, 
standing before the company, set it spinning 
upon the ground. I must then call upon one of 
the poets, when the individual who represents 
him is required to give a quotation from one of 
his poems before the plate stops spinning. If he 
fails to do so, or makes a misquotation, he is 
obliged to change places with the spinner." 

The game proceeded briskly. Shakspeare, Mil- 
ton, Shelley, Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, Whit- 
tier, had readily responded to their summons. 
Every one was slightly surprised at the ease 
with which he or she had answered the call, and 
so many pretty pieces of poetry were repeated as 
to make it doubtful whether the interest in the 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS, 125 

game would not be absorbed in admiration of the 
verses. Cecilia began to fear that she should 
never have an opportunity to sink for rest on the 
invitingly soft sand, when she called upon Byron. 
Mr. Erastus immediately responded with : — 

*' O woman! in our hours of ease 
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, 
And variable as the shade 
By the light, quivering aspen made, — 
When pain and anguish wring the brow, 
A ministering angel thou! " 

They were all on the point of letting this pass, 
when Mr. Fortescue interposed, saying : " Par- 
don me, Erastus ; if my memory is not greatly at 
fault, that is Scott's." 

Mr. Erastus was positive that it was Byron's ; 
but Mr. Fortescue could place it in " Marmion," 
and recited with great spirit the passage which 
preceded it : — 

** And half he murmured : ' Is there none, 

Of all my walls have nurst, 
Page, squu'e, or groom, one cup to bring 
Of blessed water from the spring, 

To slake my dying thirst ? ' " 

Mr. Erastus was forced to yield, and apologized 
for such an unpardonable mistake by explaining 
that he had been superintending the kettle of 
chowder which was simmering at the other end- 



126 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

of the beach, and had hastily returned when he 
gave the quotation. 

Mrs. Chester and Mrs. Fortescue, with some 
of the young men, and with the advice of Aspasia 
Brunton, had for some time been occupied with 
the crackling fire and with emptying the baskets 
that had been laden with provisions for their 
picnic, as the hotel was too far away to return to 
for lunch, and it was decided that Mr. Erastus 
could not be spared to twirl the plate for any 
more " Quotations." 

" On the contrary," Mr. Chester said, "I will 
invite you all to another contest, and with a 
plate apiece, at the other end of the beach." 

" You will find a very appetizing odor there," 
said Rodney Owens, who came to help his 
mother across the beach. 

But everybody declared there was nothing the 
matter with their appetites. 

" I have been longing for lunch," said Tom 
Fortescue, " and thought it a little cruel to put 
it off with quotations." 

It was astonishing how soon the party were 
arranged around the tempting repast, 

" There is always a question about chowder," 
said Mr. Chester, as he ladled out the tempting 
food. "I believe every household has its own 
recipe." 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 127 

" This is sure to be correct," explained Aspasia 
Bruntou. 

" I suppose we accept this as your Fagot, Miss 
Aspasia?" said Mr. Chester, as he passed his 
plate for another helping ; " it is surely most 
invigorating." 

A series of Riddles and Conundrums were 
brought out in the course of the beach picnic. 

For instance, Mr. Chester, as he helped him- 
self to strawberry jam, broke out with a — 

Conundrum. 

" What is the best way to raise strawberries ? " 
But he gave the answer himself, — " With a 
spoon." 

He directly followed it with another — 

Conundrum. 

" When were sweetmeats first made ? " giving 
the answer directly : " When Noah preserved 
pears in the ark." 

He then continued, " I will give a series of 

" Conundrums on Ducks. 

" Why does a duck go into water ? 

" Why does a duck come out of water ? 

"What kind of a doctor would a duck 
make ? " 

The answers were quickly given in turn : " For 



128 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

divers' reasons ; " *' For sun-dry reasons ; " "A 
quack doctor." 

Mr. Wjllis, as a " pendant," he said, to the 
" Jack Horner " Charade that had been repeated 
to him, gave this — 

Charade on " two characters in English litera- 
ture : " — 

'T was not on Alpine snow and ice, 
But on plain English ground, — 

*' Excelsior," their proud device, — 
A mournful fate they found. 

They went not for a merry game, 

But at stern duty's call ; 
United were they in their aim, 

Divided in their fall. 

Arthur Chester, taking a hint from the sug- 
gestion of Jack Horner, instantly guessed his old 
friends Jack and Jill, of the classic Mother 
Goose, for answer to the Charade. 

" All this reminds me," said Mr. Smith, " of a 
mathematical puzzle, which, you will see, is suita- 
ble for a picnic. I must confess that I took it 
from a German paper. 

" Problem. 

"Three young ladies, Antonia, Emily, and 
Maria, met at a picnic, each wearing some roses. 
Antonia, finding that she had the most, gave to 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 129 

her two friends as many roses as each already had. 
Emily was inspired to do the same, giving to the 
other young ladies as many as they each now 
had. Maria did not wish to be behind the 
others. Seeing what had been done, she gave 
to each of her two friends, from her store of 
flowers, as many roses as each then held. .Now 
it appeared by this proceeding that a perfectly 
equal division of the flowers had been made, so 
that each of the three now possessed eight roses. 
How many roses did each have originally ? " 

Some of the party easily puzzled this out ; but 
before they had given the answer to the others, 
Mr. Smith went on : " You have so quickly 
guessed that that I will venture to present you 
with another problem from the same source. 

" Problem. 

" At one time the Nine Muses had, alas ! been 
quarrelling over a certain subject, and held such 
different opinions that they couldn't comfort- 
ably meet to discuss it all together. To decide, 
it was necessary to divide. For this purpose 
they held councils of three at a time, arrang- 
ing that each one of the Muses need not meet 
another more than once to converse on this 
subject. 

" How many of these councils of three were 



130 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

held, and out of which of the Muses was each 
composed ? " 

" The idea of the Muses quarrelling ! " ex- 
claimed Clara. 

" But consider, my dear," said Mr. Chester, 
in a serious tone, " nine women meeting con- 
stantly!" 

" Why should n't we try to arrange the prob- 
lem in action ? " asked Mrs. Fortescue. " We 
had them represented in ^ Dumb Crambo ' the 
other day : why should n't they appear now ? " 

At her summons, nine of the young people 
rose and ranged themselves on the beach, — ' 
scarcely in the costume of the Muses, and diffi- 
cult to be recognized as such. But after a good 
deal of laughter and confusion and scuffling, it 
was found that twelve councils would be needed 
to separate the Muses amicably. Each of the 
party took up some symbol to make more clear 
which character was represented. They appeared 
in the following arrangements : — 



Polyhymnia. Euterpe. Klio. 

Melpomene. Kalliope. Terpsichore. 

Urania. Terpsichore. Urania. 

Polyhymnia. Kalliope. Thalia. 

Euterpe. Thalia. Urania. 

Erato. Melpomene. Euterpe. 



EIGHTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 131 

Polyhymnia. Terpsichore. Melpomene. 

Kalliope. Melpomene. Euterpe. 

Klio. Erato. Klio, 

Polyhymnia. Erato. Urania. 

Terpsichore. Klio. Erato. 

Thalia. Thalia. Kalliope. 

" This has succeeded so well," exclaimed Tom 
Fortescue, one of the actors, " suppose, before 
we go, we show the solution of Mr. Smith's first 
Problem in a similar way. I have a shrewd 
suspicion that two dozen wild roses will answer 
our purpose." 

Arthur Chester quickly climbed the bank and 
brought to him twenty-four sprays of wild roses. 

" If Miss Owens will personate Antonia," con- 
tinued Tom Fortescue, " and Miss Chester will 
consider herself as Emily, my sister Clara shall 
represent Maria, and I will give them the roses 
to distribute as suggested in the Problem." 

He gave to Antonia thirteen, to Emily seven, 
to Maria four ; and the result may be better shown 
by the following table : — 



Antonia. 


Emily. 


Maria. 


13 


7 


4 


2 


14 


8 


4 


4 


16 


8 


8 


8 



It will be seen that the fair exchange ended 
by each one holding eight branches of roses, 
though they began with such unequal portions. 



NINTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

A BALLAD EVENING. 

Writing Ballads. —i Acted Ballads. — The Decora- 
tive Sisters. — The Dirge of the Tadpoles. — The 
Falls op Niagara. — Dream of Fair Women. — 
. Description of Acting Ballads. 

THE distractions of late autumn visits had 
interfered with the regular meetings of 
the Fagot-party, which assembled at last with 
added numbers at the house of Mr. Brunton the 
night before Christmas Eve. It had long been 
whispered about that this was to be a special 
entertainment, with more studied arrangements 
than usual, in honor of some guests visiting 
the Bruntons, and the party was made larger 
by some additional invitations. 

"I have been requested," said Mrs. Chester; 
as the guests arrived, *' to receive our friends, 
as Miss Aspasia and her sister are busy with 
the unwonted arrangements, and Mrs. Brunton 
preferred to consider herself as one of those 
invited." 

" And I," said Mr. Fortescue, " have consented 
to bring the first Fagot, — my first Fagot too, I 



NINTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 133 

must confess, — to entertain those of us wlio are 
not behind the scenes. From the whisperings of 
some of those actors, I conclude they are going 
to act some ballads for us. Now I propose we 
should write some ! " 

" Oh, Mr. Fortescue ! " exclaimed Mrs. Ches- 
ter, " you can't be in earnest, with so many of 
the young people behind the scenes ; you ought 
not to expect such an effort as that from the 
rest of us — " 

" I can't let you define the ' young people ' in 
so limited a way," said Mr. Fortescue ; " here 
we have Aunt Cecilia with us, and Mr. Erastus, 
and sundry young ladies who, I am sure, are 
brimming over with literary talent." 

" But what do you expect ? " asked one of the 
young ladies. 

" It is a very simple thing, if we all co-operate," 
Mr. Fortescue went on. " Here are the rules for 

" "Writing Ballads. 

" Each person who writes is to start a ballad 
in this way. Take a sheet of paper and write 
the proposed title of the ballad at the bottom of 
the sheet ; add, if you choose, the name of the 
hero or heroine. Each one begins by writing 
three lines ; two of them must rhyme with each 
other, and they must be of the same metre, ten 



134 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

syllables in each line, easily counted on your 
fingers. Fold over these lines so that they can- 
not be read by your next neighbor, to whom you 
pass the paper, being careful, however, to leave 
outside the last word of your last line to serve as 
a rhyme for the next writer, at the top, where it 
can be easily seen. This next person, after hav- 
ing passed along the ballad he has already begun 
in this way, takes the paper handed to him, writes 
a line to rhyme with the word he finds on the 
sheet, in the same measure of ten syllables, adds 
another line, and folds the two over, leaving out, 
however, in the same way as before, on the sheet 
to be seen by the next person, the last word of 
his last line, that it may be rhymed to by the 
next writer. This sheet will be passed on, and 
each person will thus have a chance to contri- 
bute to the ballad of each. When the ballads 
come back to the originator, he can add as many 
lines as he pleases, before reading the whole, 
while ignorant of the lines between." 

" The principle is like that of the sonnets that 
we wrote in one of our early meetings," said 
Erastus. 

" But it differs," said Mr. Fortescue, " in the 
fact that the rhymes and subject for the sonnets 
are taken from some well-known poet ; but here 
is room for great originality." 



NINTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 135 

Only seven could be found to enter upon what 
seemed a formidable effort at " being original," 
as Mrs. Chester called it. 

" I should as soon think of going across the 
Falls of Niagara on a rope, as Blondin did, as of 
writing a ballad," she continued ; " though I shall 
be very glad to listen to them when written." 

She therefore joined a party to which Mr. 
Brunton was giving a description of a game 
of cards that he was very fond of, and which 
they were constantly playing at the Bruntons'. 
The directions for this game will be given on 
another occasion. 

The scribbling of pencils went on in silence 
while there was more talk around the card-table, 
which was interrupted at last, because the 
audience was summoned into a large room 
furnished with comfortable seats facing an 
improvised stage, curtained by portieres that 
divided this room from the next. 

In front of this curtain appeared Rodney 
Owens, who announced, " We propose to pre- 
sent you a small di^ertisement in the acting 
of the ballad of 

"THE DECORATIVE SISTERS"- 

The sounds of the piano were now heard, and 
the voice of Tom Fortescue rattling off the words 



136 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

of the ballad of this name, by Josephine Pollard, 
which is so well known in its illustrated form.- 
He did not attempt to give all its thirty-eight 
verses, but sang enough to keep up the connec- 
tion, to a tune improvised by himself. The story 
of the ballad was further carried out in panto- 
mime by the two young ladies who were spending 
the winter at the Bruntons', who impersonated 

" Dorothea and Dorinda, the two clever English lasses 
Who lived from London city not a thousand miles 
away, 
Where the buttercups and daisies grew so thick amid 
the grasses, 
In summer-time the ground appeared like one immense 
bouquet." 

Rodney Owens took the part of the artist who 
so terrified Dorothea, as described in the ballad : 

*' One day as Dorothea, with her sleeves rolled up, was 
busy 
In the milk-house, singing as she skimmed the ivory- 
tinted cream, 
She heard a step behind her, and immediately grew dizzy, 
And, as any other woman would, she gave a little 
scream." 

He carried his artist's umbrella, and went 
through the story of making the picture of 
Dorothea and her sister, showing it to the 
" old folks," represented by Angelina and her 
brother Eustace. The costumes were perfect, 



NINTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 137 

and the diffei-ent tableaux presented by the 
performers excited enthusiastic applause, espe- 
cially in the scene showing the influence of 
the artist, how — 

" Dorothea and Dorinda were his pupils, and together 
They wandered through the labyrinths of Decorative 
Art." 

The things they brought in to decorate the 
small stage upon which they were performing, 
added to the effect, the artist adorning the 
family churn. 

** They decorated pots and pans, whate'er the house af- 
forded ; 
They daubed the mirror over with some intricate 
design ; 
And rummaged through the garret, where all sorts of 
things were hoarded. 
And sat before an ugly plaque as if it were a shrine." 

The young girls appeared in the queerest 
dresses and most outlandish bonnets. Even 
they — 

** Laid hands upon their mother, and their father so 
athletic, 
And dressed them up so strangely that they hardly 
knew themselves." 

The ballad went on to tell how Dorinda wed 
the artist, and had to spend hours in standing 
for his model. 



138 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" She posed for screens and portieres, she held the fateful 

lily, 

In tragedy or comedy, whate'er the mood might be; 
No matter how she felt herself, 't was always willy-nilly, 
And how to keep from posing was a poser, as you see.'* 

But Dorothea " wed a farmer ; " and the scenery 
of storks and Japanese umbrellas and screens 
adorned with sunflowers was suddenly changed 
for a farm-yard, where her lover, — 

", Having told his passion like an honest fellow, duly 

With decorum laid his fortunes at her Decorative feet." 

Perhaps the most charming tableau of all was 
the closing one, where the two sisters were rep- 
resented in contrast, — Dorinda in aesthetic dress 
of long skirts and short waist, and Dorothea in 
rural costume : — 

" For a plain, good-natured farmer's wife is Mistress 
Dorothea, 
Who has a reputation for uncommon common-sense. 

*' And in the pleasant summer-time, when daisies are in 
blossom, 
And hollyhocks and roses stand in luminous array, 
Dorinda walks among them with white lilies in her 
bosom, 
With slow and weary footsteps, looking pale and wan 
as they. 

" As the Decorative Sisters wander arm in arm together, 
And their maiden meditations and absurdities review, 



NINTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 139 

A single glance at them, I 'm sure,' will soon convince 
you whether 
Dorothea or Dorinda is the happier of the two." 

" But it is difficult to say which is the prettier 
of the two," exclaimed Mr. Fortescue as the cur- 
tains were drawn upon the scene, where the two 
tall girls stood in front of a background of bull- 
rushes in umbrella-stands, and panels painted 
with hollyhocks and smiflowers. " It is astonish- 
ing how a young and pretty girl can make even 
an aesthetic dress becoming." 

"These are true tableaux vivants,''^ said Mr. 
Chester ; " for the characters do everything but 
speak." 

" And how beautifully they are got up ! " said 
Mrs. Odiorne ; " the dresses and scenery so 
perfect." . 

" I am afraid our ballads will appear some- 
what tame," said Mr. Fortescue, " after this 
brilliant presentation." 

" But we shall have just time to read them, 
before the next performance, shall we not ? " 
asked Aunt Cecilia. 

" I was going to propose we should have them 
afterwards," suggested Mrs. Brunton, " so that 
the performers might have the benefit of hearing 
them." 

" Why not have them both now and then ? " 



140 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

proposed Mr. Brunton ; " we may be interrupted 
in our reading, but let us hear as many of these 
brilliant productions as we have time for, — and 
doubtless they will bear repetition." 

The plan was assented to, and time was given 
for the reading of two of the ballads which follow. 
The name of the first was given as — 

THE DIRGE OF THE TADPOLES. 

" Ah! I see," said Mr. Chester; " this subject 
was suggested by our talk about these animals in 
looking at Miss Angelina's aquarium." • 

Mr, Fortescue read the ballad. 

Characters : Tadpole ; The Maiden. 

Oh ! the tadpole 's a bird without any wings, 

And sad is the song which jolly he sings 

As he croaks in the marsh where the frogs and the toads 

Hop in and hop out of their marshy abodes. 

But sadly he hopped, with his eyes dimmed with tears, 
And seeing the maid, he hissed in her ears : 
" Oh, why dost thou doubt me, my wandering fair? '* 
And then in her horror she tore her fair hair I 

And faintly she gurgled: "Oh! is that a whale ? " 
And naught could be seen but the end of his tail. 
His tail, — wherefore tail? Shall I ne'er be a frog? 
Did she swim in the water, or dive in the bog? 

Vain, vain, was the cry as it surged in the air ! 

Some thought they had vanished, some thought they were 

there, 
I know not, I ask not ; the story would fail, 
And the bravest of hearts most surely might quail. 



NINTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 141 

The Dirge of the Tadpole sinks sad on the ear, — 
The Tadpole, who knows neither terror nor fear, 
But croaks for his friend as he chirps for his foe, 
And marks gladness alike with the symbols of woe I 

" That is effective ! " exclaimed Mr. Chester ; 
" and with perhaps as much connection as many 
poems have ! " 

" There ]s a delightful vagueness about it," 
said Aunt Cecilia. 

" Do let us hear another," said Mrs. Chester, 
" before we are interrupted. I begin to be sorry 
that I did not join in such artistic efforts." 

Erastus read the name of the next ballad as 



THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 

Characters : Mrs. Chester ; Blondin. 

" You see, Mrs. Chester, you are in for it after 
all ! " exclaimed Mr. Chester. 
Erastus read on : — 

The Falls of Niagara fall from the cliff: 
I think they will fall till the frost gets quite stiff; 
But where will they go when they cease to go over? 
Oh, great is the gulf o'er which Blondin does hover! 

Like a bird in mid air without any wings, 
Mrs. Chester is coming, — to think of all things I 
I ne'er would believe it, but such is the fact,. — 
But I always knew she was famous for tact. 



142 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE, 

What a great deal of water pours over this bank ! 
And so for a moment his dauntless heart sank. 
Quick from the spectators sprang forth the rash wight, — 
He sinks ! He is gone ! He is lost in the night ! 

The waves tumble o'er him, he 's lost in the foam; 

But he runs back the rope, and returns safe to home. 

Then he looked in the sky, and looked down to the 
water : 

He thought of the canon pronounced 'gainst self- 
slaughter. 

Mr. Chester then said, as he took home his wife, 

" You '11 dream of high tumbling the rest of your life." 

The laughter that followed the reading of this 
production was interrupted by a summons to 
silence, for by this time the preparations had 
been completed for the final entertainment of 
the evening. The audience were summoned to 
place themselves again in front of the impro- 
vised stage. 

" Not a ballad, I understand, this time," said 
Mrs. Chester, '' but a poem." 

A great silence followed, broken by a voice 
from behind the curtains, that of Hector Brun- 
ton, reading — 

"THE DREAM OF FAIR WOMEN." 

" It is ' The Dream of Fair Women ! ' " " Ten- 
nyson's!" exclaimed one and another, as he be- 
gan the well-known words : — 



NINTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 143 

" I read, before my eyelids dropt their shade, 
* The Legend of Good Women,' long ago 
Sung by the morning star of song, who made 
His music heard below." 

He went on with the verses following, omit- 
ting some of them, until he reached the twenty- 
second verse, when the curtain was slowly 
drawn as he read : — 

" At length I saw a lady within call, 

Stiller than chiselled marble, standing there, — 
A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, 
And most divinely fair." 

As he passed on to the next verse, the audi- 
ence saw before them Aspasia Brunton in Greek 
costume, standing statue-like, and carrying out 
the words by her action : — 

" She, turning on my face 
The star-like sorrows of immortal eyes, 
Spoke slowly in her place ; " 

and in exquisitely modulated voice, in the char- 
acter of Helen of Troy, which she represented, 
she herself spoke the words that followed : — 

*' / 1 had great beauty : ask thou not my name : 
No one can be more wise than destiny. 
Many drew swords and died. Where'er I came 
I brought calamiity.' " 

The reader went on with the poem, in dra- 
matic manner, appealing to "one that stood 
beside." This was Iphigenia, represented by 



144 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Cecilia Owens, who went on reciting the verses 
that followed with a wonderful spirit that 
thrilled the whole audience, which had already 
been moved by the quiet, measured cadence of 
Aspasia's voice, as she ended with the words, — 

" ' The high masts flickered as they lay afloat; 

The crowds, the temples, wavered, and the shore ; 
The bright death quivered at the victim's throat ; 
Touched; and 1 knew no more.' " 

Aspasia followed with the last words of Helen, 
in the same sad tone : — 

** * I would the white cold heavy-plunging foam, 
Whirled by the wind, had rolled me deep below, 
Then when I left my home.' " 

The poem was in this way carried along by 
the fresh characters that appeared, a flowery 
screen being moved away to disclose Cleopatra, 
most brilliantly represented by Mrs. Fortescue, 

*' Sitting on a crimson scarf unrolled; '* 

and in turn came in the several persons of the 
poem. The daughter of Jephtha was most won- 
derfully presented by Sally Chester, who sur- 
prised everybody by the spirited way in which 
she flung herself into the group of classic figures 
on the stage, and with raised timbrel recited 
with passion the verses that followed. 

Everybody forgot the personality of the actor 



NINTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 145 

as she stood there in the brilliant costume of a 
Jewish maiden, with black hair, and cheeks 
glowing in color, — 

'* The daughter of the warrior Gileadite, 
A maiden pure; as when she went along 
From Mizpeh's towered gate with welcome light, 
With timbrel and with song." 

Hector Brunton read on from the poem : — 

"My words leapt forth : ' Heaven heads the count of crimes 
With that wild oath.* She rendered answer high: 
* Not so, nor once alone ; a thousand times 
I would be born and die. ' " 

She went on through the verses that followed, 
with a most inspired air that electrified the 
whole audience. In great contrast was the 
quiet intonation of Clara Fortescue, who had 
silently come in, and who broke the stillness 
following her appearance, with the words : — 

" * Turn and look on me: 
I am that Rosamond, whom men call fair. 
If what I was I be.' " 

Then came the bitter, scornful utterance of 
Cleopatra, followed by the entrance of the other 
characters, — Angelina as Joan of Arc, and two 
young friends taking the parts of the daughter 
of Sir Thomas More and Queen Eleanor. 

As the exquisite group slowly formed itself, the 
10 



146 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

rapt audience sat in silence, and wished that 
Hector Brunton could longer have dwelt upon 
the closing verses that gave them opportunity to 
look upon so lovely a picture. Again and again 
the applause forced the actors to appear upon 
the stage. It was only the lateness of the hour 
that could compel the closing of the scene. 

" Can any rule be given," asked Mr. Erastus, 
« for — 

" Acting Ballads ? " 

" The words of some ballad should be plainly 
spoken or sung," answered Tom Fortescue, 
"and the performers should be well enough 
acquainted with the ballad to be able to express 
their meaning directly. It is best not to antici- 
pate the meaning, but to give it in the very 
moment that the words are heard. Otherwise 
there is a confusion between eye and ear." 

" My description of Acting Ballads," said Mrs. 
Fortescue, " will always be an account of these 
ballads as we have seen them performed ; only 
the description must always come far below the 
impression of the thing itself." 



TENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

EVENING OF PKOVEEBS. 

Cayenne. — Shouting Proverbs. — Illustrated Pro- 
verbs. — Put in a Proverb. — Acting Proverbs. 
— Answer to Charade. 

AYERY large party assembled at the For- 
tescues as the first Fagot-party of the 
New Year. Among the early comers four di- 
rectly withdrew to a corner, to play with Mr. 
Brunton the game of cards which he had taught 
them at the last Fagot-party, and ^which they 
had since been practising. " It is a game," said 
Mr. Brunton, "that increases its interest the 
more you play it, — as is the case with all good 
games; whist, for instance, which it resembles 
in many points." Mr. Brunton proceeded to 
rehearse the rules of the game for the benefit of 
some lookers-on. 

"Cayenne. 

" This game is played as whist is, — with four 
persons ; two being partners, sitting opposite to 
each other. As it is an advantage in this game 



148 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

to have long suits, the cards should be seldom or 
never shuffled ; and after being cut, should be 
dealt in two rounds, — seven cards, for instance, 
at once to each player, and six to each afterwards. 
Or," said Mr. Brunton, suiting the action to the 
word, " I prefer to deal twelve at once to each 
player, and then to deal round one to each. Tliis 
leaves the cards less disturbed. 

" As in whist, the player next the dealer leads a 
card, which must be followed in suit by the other 
players, and taken by the one who plays the high- 
est card. As in whist, after six of these tricks 
have been taken on either side, every succeeding 
trick taken, counts. A trump is turned up in 
dealing, which, however, is accepted only at the 
will of the dealer, who has the right to make a 
trump. 

" The dealer, indeed, can declare which of 
various games he will play, presently to be ex- 
plained. If he cannot favorably make a decision, 
he passes the right to his partner, who must de- 
cide upon one of the following alternatives. He 
can play what is called playing — 

" In Suits, or a Whist Hand, — making any 
trump he pleases (which of course would be his 
strongest suit), and taking as many tricks as he 
and his partner can make. This, however, does 
not count him as much, if successful, as . — 



TENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 149 

" Grandissimo. — If he declares this, he must 
refuse to make any trump, not accepting the 
trump turned up. This can only be successfully 
played with the best cards of a long suit and the 
leading cards of the other suits. 

" Cayenne — is played by declaring the trump 
turned up, and if successful, counts more than a 
game In Suits. 

" NuLLissiMO — is the reverse of all these. 
Every trick beyond six, taken by the players 
who declare Nullissimo, counts to the other side ; 
so the object is to take as few tricks. as possible. 
There are no trumps in Nullissimo, and the ace 
counts lowest, — as 1, — unless the player as he 
places it upon the table calls it ' high,' for the 
purpose of taking the trick with it. 

" Honors are counted in this game, and the 
teii-spot ranks as an honor. The game is 40. 

" Each trick (after making six tricks, or a 
book, as in whist) counts 2, except in Nullis- 
simo, when each trick counts 4 to the other 
side, and Cayenne, in which it counts 4, and 
in Grandissimo, in which it counts 6. 

" Three honors count 2, four honors count 4, 
five honors count 6. In Cayenne the honors 
count double. 

" Grand Slam — is gained when one side takes 
all the tricks ; and it counts 16. 



150 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" Small Slam — where all the tricks but one 
are taken, counts 6. In NuUissimo these count 
to the other side. ' 

" Great care must be taken," continued Mr. 
Brunton, " in playing NuUissimo. 

"If you have no card of the suit led, you have 
an excellent opportunity of throwing away a 
■dangerous high card of another suit. For this 
purpose it is a good plan in NuUissimo to dis- 
pose of your short suits as soon as possible. If 
your partner has had the misfortune to take the 
trick, you have another . good opportunity to dis- 
pose of a high card of the same suit, unless you 
have reason to suppose that it is an advantage 
for your partner to take the lead for the next 
round. But as the trick anyhow must count to 
your side, you may as well use up a high card of 
your own upon it, otherwise be very sure to play 
as low a card as possible. Practice and experi- 
ence are the best teachers in this game, as in 
all." 

" I see," said Mrs. Fortescue, as she perceived 
this party in the corner occupied with their game 
of cards, " that you are determined to make this 
evening a quiet one, in contrast to the brilliant 
evening we had at our last Fagot-party." 

" That, indeed, was a great success," said Mrs. 
Owens. " Everybody has been speaking of it." 



TENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 151 

" 1 shall never forget that last tableau of the 

* Fair Women,' " said Mrs. Chester ; " the mem- 
ory of it stays by me." 

" It was such an original idea," said Mr. Ches- 
ter, " for the different characters to speak them- 
selves. We have seen, before, series of tableaux 
illustrating the poem with long pauses between 
each picture ; but here we were carried on dra- 
matically from one point to another, without any 
opportunity for losing our interest or for recall- 
ing us back to ourselves." 

" I really think Tennyson himself would have 
been pleased," said Aunt Maria, who came regu- 
larly to the Fagot-parties. 

" But I understand we are to have some act- 
ing to-night," said Aspasia Brunton. 

" Nothing in so brilliant a line," said Mrs. 
Fortescue. " Clara and her brother have been 
preparing to act a proverb to offer as their 
Fagot." 

"Why should we, then, not begin with the 

* Shouting Proverbs,' game ? " asked Rodney 
Owens. 

" Certainly, if you will tell us just how to play 
it," said Mrs. Fortescue. 

And Kodney Owens explained the simple 
method of playing — 



152 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Shouting Proverbs. 

" One person leaves the room, and the rest 
think of a proverb which he is to guess on his 
return. One word of this proverb must be given 
in succession to each person in the company, and 
must be shouted out at the same moment when 
the person who is to guess has returned." 

" I pity him," said Mr. Chester ; " and I sug- 
gest that you kindly go first." 

Rodney Owens willingly assented ; and when 
he was gone, the proverb, "• Every man thinks 
his own geese swans," was decided upon. Each 
word was taken in turn successively by the com- 
pany, and the proverb needed to be repeated 
three times in order to give each one a word, as 
it contained but seven words, and there were 
twenty-one ready to play. 

As soon as Rodney Owens entered the room, 
at a signal from Mr. Chester each person shouted 
his word in full voice, as loud as possible. A 
terrible hissing was produced, as the three who 
happened to have the word " geese " were espe- 
cially vigorous in voice, and the proverb was 
quickly guessed. As Rodney Owens detected 
Mr. Chester in enunciating one of the " geese," 
Mr. Chester was obliged to go out of the room, 
in order to guess the next proverb. 

But he was able to get hold of it sooner than 



TENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 153 

he expected ; for one of those who had the word 
" glass " in the proverb of — 

** Those who hve in houses of glass 
Must not throw stones at those that pass," 

came in late with his word, which easily betrayed 
the whole proverb to Mr. Chester. 

The shouting of fresh proverbs was kept on 
for a while till Hector Brunton suggested the 
game of — 

Illustrated Proverbs. 

" This is done," he explained, " in the same 
way as in the game of Historical Pictures. 

" Each person has a sheet of paper and pencil, 
and on the upper part of the sheet draws an 
illustration of any proverb he may have in his 
mind, and passes the paper to his next neighbor, 
who writes at the bottom of the sheet the pro- 
verb he supposes is represented, and passes it to 
the next, after turning down his own conjecture, 
which may or may not be correct." 

Arthur Chester was quite eager for this game. 
As in the game of Historical Pictures, he was 
displeased that his proverb was universally 
guessed, while he would have been equally dis- 
pleased if his picture had not been understood. 
vHis picture, which we represent here, was not, 
however, guessed by everybody. One person 



154 



FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 




wrote, " Curses, like chickens, come home to 
roost ; " and another suggested, " Every man 
thinks his own geese swans : " while the true 
answer was given, with these exceptions, by all 
as, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the 
bush." 

"Arthur's human figures are truly classic," 
whispered Mr. Chester to Mrs. Fortescue ; " but 
his birds, I fear, were studied from the Noah's 
ark of his childhood." 

"There is a certain truth about his picture 
that I like," said Mrs. Fortescue, — " his putting 
his birds so far into the bush." 

Eustace Brunton's picture of an old-fashioned 
well, with well-sweep, standing >by itself and in- 
tended to represent the proverb, " Let well 
alone," was variously guessed as " All 's well 
that ends well ; " "Well begun is well done," etc. 

After one turn at this game, Aunt Cecilia 



TENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 155 

begged that the old-fashioned game of " Put in a 
Proverb " should not be neglected. This was 
not familiar to the young people present, and she 
gave the directions for it. 

Put in a Proverb. 

In this game, one person goes out of the 
room, while the rest think of a proverb. Each 
one must then take a word in turn of the prov- 
erb, and when asked a question by the person 
who went out, on his return he must put the 
word given him into his answer. 

Cecilia Owens consented to go out, and Ar- 
thur Chester went with her ; as it was decided it 
would take two to guess the words hidden in the 
answers. 

We give here the questions and answers : — 

" Which did you consider the finest of the 
illustrations just made of the proverbs ? " 

" I should find it hard to select one ; but 
Aspasia and Angelina Brunton showed they 
were true artists." 

" Where were you going when I met you in 
such a hurry the other day ? " 

" I was going to swallow a hasty lunch at the 
station before taking the train for New York." 

"Should you prefer to be the one to go out, 
and come in and ask questions, in this kind of 
game, or to stay in and answer ? " 



156 FAGOTS FOB THE FIRESIDE. 

"It does not make much difference, in my 
opinion. One discovers one's lack of brains in 
either capacity." 

" Do you think our Fagots are likely to give 
out?'' 

" I should say not. Fresh wood is cut every 
year." 

" Do you think we are to have a stormy 
winter ? " 

" You must inquire of Mr. Wiggin. He is the 
person to make the prophecies." 

" If you were invited to a toboggan-party, 
should you accept ? " 

" I should take a bee-line and go to it." 

" How many times shall we have to go round 
before we guess this proverb ? " 

" I should say you would have to spend the 
winter at it, and perhaps part of the summer." 

In fact, Cecilia and Arthur had to ques- 
tion each member of the company before they 
guessed it, and the proverb was repeated three 
times. But the astute reader has probably 
already guessed it in the seven answers we have 
given. 

A number of proverbs were brought forward 
for this game, some new, and some old, — " What 
can't be cured must be endured ; " " Lasses and 
glasses are always in danger ; " " Make hay while 
the 'sun shines," etc. 



TENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 15T 

"Mrs. Chester has made an excellent prov- 
erb" said Mr. Chester. " I believe she considers 
it appropriate to her own room, as well as many 
others in these modern days, — 'Every rug be- 
trays a rag.' " 

" Oh, Mr. Chester ! " exclaimed his wife ap- 
pealingly, in the midst of the laughter that 
followed, " I never heard it before ! " 

These and other proverbs were given in the 
same way, and guessed. Some of the younger 
members of the party had withdrawn for the 
purpose of — 

Acting Proverbs. 

"This is done," said Tom Fortescue, as he 
stood in front of a curtain before which the 
audience was assembled, "by selecting a prov- 
erb and dramatizing it; that is, we are now 
going to present to you a little scene, and you 
will be obliged to guess the proverb which we 
shall attempt to represent." 

He passed behind the curtain, and in a few 
moments it was drawn, and the front of a cot- 
tage appeared, with a door and a window. 

"For this scene," Mrs. Fortescue said, in an 
audible whisper, to those sitting near her, "we 
are indebted to Aspasia and Angelina; they 
painted it for us, with the ivy hanging around 



158 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

the door. Tom managed the * practicable ' win- 
dow, that will open, and the door also." 

At this moment two old tramps, as they seemed, 
— a man and a woman, — presented themselves 
in front of the door in the scene. Tom Fortescue 
was seen to open the door from the inside to let 
them in, as they gesticulated their wants. 

He himself was looking haggard and worn, 
and at first was hesitating to let them in. 

" Come in, come in," he said at last in a 
voice of despair ; " we are all of us beggars 
together." 

At this moment Clara Fortescue opened the 
window from within. She too had a sad, sor- 
rowful look, and was dressed in old, worn, shabby 
clothes. 

"Clara looks a hundred years old," said her 
mother. 

But as Clara opened the window, a plaster 
Cupid that was banging inside above her by a 
wire, fell from its nail out of the window, and 
was smashed in pieces outside. Clara clasped 
her hands in agony, and wretched-looking as she 
was, looked far more wretched. 

The curtain was drawn upon this tableau, and 
Mr. Chester exclaimed : — 

" When Poverty comes in at the door, Love 
flies out of the window." 



TENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 159 

" That must be it ! " " It must be so ! " ex- 
claimed everybody. " What a lovely picture ! 
we must have it again ; " and there were loud 
cries of " Encore! " " Encore ! " 

The curtain was drawn in a marvellously short 
time, to show an entire change of scene. The 
inside of the cottage was now shown, with the 
same door and the same window at the back of 
the stage. But Tom Fortescue was now opening 
the door, and insisting that the same old tramps 
should leave. 

" I find you can't help us here, you may as 
well leave," he was saying ; " we can get along 
very well by ourselves. My wife here," pointing 
to Clara Fortescue, " is willing you should take 
our last crust, if you will only leave. She can 
scrub her own floors. I am going to work sorting 
bricks to-morrow, and here is a ticket for you to 
take to the office of the Associated Charities." 

At this moment Clara hastened to the window, 
which now opened outwards, and a lovely face 
was seen looking in. It was little Bessie For- 
tescue, with some shining, transparent wings 
spread over her shoulders. She mounted on the 
sill, as if to fly in. 

" Ah, I see ! " said Hector Brunton ; " Love 
flies in at the window, so Poverty goes out at 
the door.'* 



160 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

The tramps left, giving thanks for their Asso- 
ciated Charities ticket, and the scene closed. 

Other impromptu proverbs were acted after 
this brilliant scene had been sufficieiitly ap- 
plauded and encored. 

Before leaving, Sally Chester said she had 
never guessed a Charade that was given one 
night at Mr. Fortescue's bj Aspasia Brunton, 
beginning with the line, — 

" My First may become either beggar or king." 

" Think a minute ,'' said Aspasia ; " a beggar 
was once a Child, so was a king." 

"And a Hood warms the head, was once a 
poet, and often takes a new face," added Cecilia. 

" And we all pretend to look back upon our 
Childhood with regret," said Mr. Chester. " I 
can't say why. What do we regret, — going to 
school, or staying at home, or our tears ? " 

The question was not answered. 



ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Alphabet Story. — New Alliterations. — An Austrian 
Army. — Written Geography. — I Love My Love. 
— Who Are You ? — Who Am I ? — Doubt It ! — 
Patent Medicines. 

THE meeting was held at Mrs. Owens's, and 
her small rooms were well filled, as there 
was a number of strangers present. One of 
these brought forward the first Fagot. 

" I do not know," she said, " but that you are 
too familiar with this ' Alphabet ' game ; but we 
all enjoyed it so much in the Pullman car the 
other day that I am going to suggest it, espe- 
cially as I have received a fresh Alphabet Story 
in a letter from a fellow-traveller that I shall 
venture to use." 

" The ' Alphabet' is ever old," said Mr, Chester ; 
" but it is a little out of favor nowadays, and I, 
for one, should like some more practice in it." 

Miss Clinton gave the following description of 
the — 

Alphabet Story : — 

" Each person in turn must tell or write a 
story of twenty-six words, each beginning with a 

11 



162 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

different letter of the alphabet, taken in consecu- 
tive order.'' 

Mr. Fortescue immediately rattled out : — 

" A Brilliant Creature Discoursed Every Fri- 
day, Giving Her Interpretation Jocosely, Kind- 
ling Laughter. Mr. Norton Objected, Professing 
Quite Rudely Some Trumpery Unbeliefs Varied 
With X-asperating yells. Zealot ! " 

Aspasia Brunton went on with : — 

"Absurd Boasting Critic, Denouncing Every 
Fanciful Grace, Hurling Injurious Jests, Kept 
Lightly Made, Not On Persons Queerly Ridicu- 
lous, Satirizing Those Useful Victors Who X-alt 
Your Zeal. 

" It is singular," she went on, " how one is led 
astray by the exigencies of the letter ; and I find 
myself winding up quite differently from the way 
I expected." 

Miss Clinton gave the story from her friend, 
who called it " The Strike Alphabetically 
Struck:" — 

" A Brutal Crowd Dissents ; Each Face Grim, 
Hideous, Intense ; Jacobins, Ku-kluxes, Loafing 
Men, Noisy, Overwrought Partisans, Quarrel- 
some, Ranting Scamps, Tramps United, Villan- 
ous Wretches, X-cited, Yelling Zealots ! " 

Some one else gave : — 

"Autumn's Breath (Chilly Decaying, Ere 



ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 163 

Frozen Glaciers Hang In Jets) Kindly Leaves 
Mementos, Needing Only Pensive Query. Ri- 
pened Seasons ! These Unseal Visions Which 
X-alt Your Zeal!" 

Then followed : — 

" A Barbarous Caterpillar Destroyed Every 
Fuschia Growing Here In June, Killing, Like- 
wise, Many New Orchids Planted Quite Recently. 
Such Totally Unexpected, Yillanous Work X-as- 
perated Young Zebedee." 

This met with great applause. 

" That is admirable," said Mr. Chester ; " espe- 
cially for closing with a new word, — ' Zebedee.' 
' Zealous ' and ' zeal ' have, you will have ob- 
served, been quite overworked." 

It was now Angelina's turn, who gave : — 

" A Bumble-bee Chastised Dainty Emmets 
For Gathering Honey Into Jugs, Kissing Lilacs, 
Mignonettes, Nasturtiums, Only Preferring 
Quaint Roses (Sweet Things) Until Yiolets 
Were X-panding. Yours, Zinzendorff." 

Many more stories followed. Somebody sug- 
gested taking the alphabet backward, and Erastus 
broke out with : — 

" Zealous Young Xantippe, Wedded Yery Un- 
happily To Socrates, Reiterated Querulous Per- 
sonalities On Noted Men Like Kleon, Jealously 
Insulting Husband, Greece, Friends, Every Dear 
Creature, By Abusive, Angry Aspersions ! " 



164 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE, 

" It is singular " said Eustace Brunton, " but I 
had brought to-night some new specimens of the 
game of 'Alliteration,' which we played at our 
fifth meeting. These have been given me lately, 
and are so spicy that I know you will enjoy 
them. They are upon the well-known story of 
Casabianca — " 

" The boy of the * burning deck,' " explained 
Rodney Owens. 

Eustace Brunton went on : — 

" Casabianca Climbed Cross-bars ; Called Clam- 
orously : ' Can Casabianca Cut ? ' Cannot, 
Cogitated Child. Coals Came Close, Caught 
Casabianca, Cremated Casabianca, 'Cause Casa- 
bianca Can't Commit Crimes, — Casabianca, 
Courageous, Cool-headed, Courteous Christian. 

" Here is the other : — 

" Casabianca Could Calmly Consider Command 
Conveyed Captainwards. Captain Charged Cas- 
abianca : ' Casabianca can't come.' ' Conflagra- 
tion Coming ! Can come ? ' Cried Casabianca. 
Captain Can't Convey Command, 'Cause Captain 
Collapsed Constitutionally. Consequently Casa- 
bianca Could n't Come, Casabianca Consumed." 

" This shows what can be done under limita- 
tions," said Mr. Chester ; " but I am glad we are 
not always confined to one letter. I find it diffi- 
cult sometimes to frame my sentences even with 
the help of the whole dictionary." 



ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 165 

" I remember " said Mr. Wyllis, " when I was 
a boy, we were taught to repeat some lines 
beginning with, — 

' ' * An Austrian army awfully arrayed ; ' 

but I was never able to get much farther." 

Hector Brunton declared the lines had been in 
print again of late years, and, at the request of 
the others, repeated them : — 

An Austrian army awfully arrayed, 

Boldly by battery besiege Belgrade ! 

Cossack commanders cannonading come, 

Dealing destruction, devastating doom. 

Every endeavor engineers essay. 

For fame, for fortune fighting, furious fray, 

Generals 'gainst generals grapple. Gracious God! 

How honors Heaven heroic hardihood ! 

Infuriate, indiscriminate in ill. 

Kinsmen kill kinsmen ; kindred, kindred kill. 

Labor low levels longest, loftiest lines ; 

Men march 'mid mounds, 'mid moles, 'mid- murderous 

mines. 
Now noisy numbers notice, noxious, nought 
Of outward obstacle opposing ought. 
Poor patriots, partly purchased, partly pressed. 
Quite quaking, quickly quarter, quarter quest. 
Keason returns ; religious right resounds ! 
Suwarrow stops such sanguinary sounds. 
Truce to thee, Turkey! triumph to thy train, 
Unwise, unjust, unmerciful Ukraine! 
Vanish, vain victory, vanish victory vain ! 
Why wish we warfare, wherefore welcome were 
Xerxes, Ximenes, Xanthus, Xavier? 



166 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Yield, yield, ye youths ; ye yeomen, yield your yell I 
Zeno, Zopater, Zoroaster's zeal ! 

" That is a magnificeiit thing ! " exclaimed 
Rodney Owens; "I don't know that I ever 
heard the whole of it, though I used to repeat 
some of the lines as useful in ^ capping verses.' " 

" I think," said Mr. Fortescue, " I might be 
permitted to give you here the changes made by 
a brilliant friend of mine, who gives the closing 
lines in this way : — 

*' Yield, yield, ye youths! ye yeomen, yield, yes, yes I 
Zeno's, Zopater's zeal, Zabdicines, 
&draimon & &dromache's ! " 

"This is all very singular," said Mr. Jones; 
" for I happen to have in my pocket-book a ver- 
sion which I cut from the ' Boston Transcript' 
only the other day, which varies from yours." 

" Which it might easily do," said Hector ; " for 
mine I give only from memory of the time when 
I used to recite it as a boy." 

Mr. Jones read the following extract from the 
" Transcript : " — 

Through the courtesy of Mr. John Bartlett, com- 
piler of " Familiar Quotations," we are enabled to 
give the original form in which they appeared, from 
a copy lately sent to Mr. Bartlett from England. 
The lines first appeared in Wheeler's ' ' Hampshire 
Magazine," June, 1828 : — 



ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 167 
ALLITERATION; OR, THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE. 

A RONDEAU. 

These lines having been incorrectly printed in a Lon- 
don publication, we have been favored by the author with 
an authentic copy of them : — 

An Austrian army, awfully array'd. 

Boldly by battery besiege Belgrade, 

Cossack commanders cannonading come, 

Deal devastation's dire destructive doom ; 

Ev'ry endeavor engineers essay, 

For fame, for freedom fight, fierce, furious fray. 

Gen'rals 'gainst gen'rals grapple, — gracious God 

How honors heav'n heroic hardihood ! 

Infuriate, indiscriminate in ill. 

Just Jesus, instant innocence instill ! 

Kinsmen kill kinsmen, kindred kindred kill. 

Labour low levels longest, loftiest lines ; 

Men march 'midst mounds, motes, mountains, murd'rous 

mines. 
Now noisy, noxious numbers notice nought, 
Of outward obstacles o'ercoming ought ; 
Poor patriots perish, persecution's pest ! 
Quite quiet Quakers " quarter, quarter " quest. 
Reason returns, religion, right, redounds, 
Sawarrow stop such sanguinary sounds. 
Truce to thee, Turkey, terror to thy train, 
Unwise, unjust, unmerciful Ukraine ! 
Vanish vile vengeance, vanish victory vain. 
Why wish we warfare, wherefore welcome won 
Xerxes, Xantippus, Xavier, Xenephon 1 
Yield ye young Yaghier yeomen, yield your yell, 
Zimmerman's Zoroastes's, Zeno's zeal 
Again attract, arts against arms appeal 
All, all ambitious aims, avaunt, away ! 
£t csetera, et caetera, et csstera. 



:ill. ) 



168 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

The gentleman who sends the above copy to Mr. Bart- 
lett adds: — 

" The above was copied at the British Museum ; but possibly 
the Winchester printer has made typographical errors in the 
punctuation, etc., as he evidently has in printing * Sawarrow * 
for Suwarrow, 'Zoroastes' for Zoroaster. Altogether, the un- 
authorized version of these lines seems better than the ' authen- 
tic ' re-written one. 

" We have not been ahle to find out anything about Rev. 
B. Poulter, to whom you attribute this alliterative work." 

" This version gives a line of ' J/ " said Hec- 
tor, " which I certainly never heard in my youth. 
I am glad to see ' terror to thy train ' given 
instead of ' triumph to thy train,' which I never 
could understand in my version, where 'triumph' 
must have been a misprint." 

"A former article in the 'Transcript's' que- 
ries," continued Mr. Jones, " gives a closing line 
that you do not have : — 

*' < And all attracting against arms appeal.* " 

" All this reminds me," said Aspasia, " of a 
game we played last summer, that I have been 
wanting to bring in as a Fagot." She proceeded 
to describe it as — 

"Written Geography. 

In this game pencil and paper are required, 
and three or five minutes are allowed to each 
writer, in which space of time each one must 



ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 169 

write down as many names as he can recall of 
geographical places, — cities, States, rivers, be- 
ginning with one letter fixed upon. When the 
time is out, the lists are read aloud, and a record 
of failures and successes is made, in the same 
way as with the game of " Yerbarium " (described 
in the Third Bundle of Fagots), or "Androscog- 
gin," as that favorite game is often called. 

" That is truly literary," exclaimed Mr. Ches- 
ter, " since it will cultivate our geography as 
well as our alphabetical knowledge. But let 
us pass over the letter A, as that is a letter 
as much overworked as our much-used word 
'zeal.'" 

The letter B was selected, and a list of cities 
decided upon, of which a long roll was made 
by the successful victor of the greatest number 
of names, — beginning, of course, with that of 
Boston, and going on with Buffalo, Barcelona, 
Bordeaux, Bruges, Berne, Bologna, etc. 

Aunt Cecilia, who was fond of returning to the 
past generations, put in a plea for " I love my 
love with an A." 

" Ah, yes ! " exclaimed Mr. Brunton ; " we 
play that every summer at the seaside, — only 
we have made some alterations and additions, 
which you may like to try." 

It was agreed upon that the game should be 



170 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

tried, though Mrs. Odiorne wondered if there 
could be anything new in it. 

" You all know the rules," said Mr. Brunton, 
" of the original game of — 

" I Love My Love. 

" The first person in the company begins with 
the letter A to say, for instance : ' I love him 
(or her) with an A because he is Amiable ; I hate 
him because he is Audacious. He took me to the 
sign of the Antelope and gave me Apples to eat 
and Ale to drink. His name is Anthony, and he 
came from Albany.' The next person must go 
on with the letter B, giving the different reasons 
for loving or hating his B ; then the successive 
members take the succeeding letters of the alpha- 
bet in the same way." 

" Our method varies," said Mr. Brunton, " be- 
cause we take the initials of the name of some 
one present, and make them the initial letters 
of the several requirements of the game ; and 
we have added to these requirements. I will 
begin with an example, and select Mrs. For- 
tescue." 

" T will give my consent," said Mr. Fortescue 
indulgently ; and Mr. Brunton began with ; — 

" I love my love with an A. S. F., because she 
has A Sweet Face ; I hate her (if possible) be- 



ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 171 

cause she is an Anti-Suffrage Female. I took 
her to the sign of the Anglo-Saxon Farmer and 
gave her A Spring Fowl to eat, and All-Spice 
Flip to drink. She reads the Anti-Socialist Fed- 
eralist, and smells of A Sweet Flower. Her 
name is Annie Sturtevant Fortescue, and she 
comes from Augustine (St.), Florida. 

" You observe," he continued, " that we have 
added the newspaper read by the beloved object, 
and what she likes to smell." . 

" I think you make me out more conservative 
than I am," said Mrs. Fortescue. 

" You might have added," said Mr. Fortescue : 
" ' And she married an Ancient School Fogy.' " 

Arthur Chester continued the game by break- 
ing out with, — 

" I love my love with a CO., because her eyes 
are such Clear Orbs ; if possible to hate her, it 
would be that she is a too Critical Observer. I 
took her to the sign of the Chief Oneida, and 
gave her Canned Oysters to eat, and Candied 
Orange-water to drink. She reads the Christian 
Oracle, and likes to smell of — " 

" Eau de Cologne ^^ suggested Mr. Chester. 

" Cloves and Oranges," Arthur continued. 
" Her name is Cecilia Owens, and she comes 
from Cincinnati, Ohio." 

This was received with applause, as Cecilia 



172 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

had lately visited that place. Eodney Owens 
went on : — 

" I love my love with an A. B., because she is 
A Beauty ; I hate her because she is A Belle. I 
took her to the sign of the Adonis Bower, and 
gave her A-la-mode Beef to eat, and Adam's Beer 
to drink. She reads the Advertising Bulletins, 
and loves the smell of Almond-Blossoms. Her 
name is Aspasia Brunton, and she comes from 
Ancient Boston." 

It seemed as if this game might go on forever, 
but was broken by .the suggestion of playing a 
game thus described as, — 

"Who Are You? 

One person must go out, and the rest of the 
company will decide upon some well-known char- 
acter for him to personate ; and on his return to 
the room he must guess what this character is, 
from the questions that are put to him. 

Cecilia Owens was the first to go out, and 
on her return she was greeted by a volley of 
questions : — 

" Did you like the last part of your life as well 
as the first ? " 

" Did not you regret your quiet home ? " 

" How do you like your picture ? " 

" Is your name spelled right?" 



ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 173 

" How many school compositions do you sup- 
pose have been written about you?" 

One question at last betrayed the rest : — 

" Was your home any relation of Noah's ? " 

"Joan of Arc," she exclaimed. 

Hector Brunton went out next, and was as- 
sailed on his return with numerous questions : 

" Is it not nice to have all the small boys like 
you?" 

" Don't you want to go back ? " 

" Did not you forget how to talk ? " 

"Are you any relation to Mrs. S. F. ?" 

" Where is your parrot ? " etc. 

These last questions revealed himself as Rob- 
inson Crusoe. The game was continued for 
a while, when Angelina Brunton proposed to 
change it to a similar game of — 

Who Am I ? 

In this game the person who goes out de- 
cides upon a character to personify, and he 
comes in himself and acts the character until 
it is guessed. 

Clara Fortescue was the first to go out, and 
came in soon after with a train of attendants, 
with regal air ; but she busied herself at first 
with some boxes that were brought in, apparently 
containing dresses. 



174 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" What is she doing ? " exclaimed Mrs. Chester. 
" She must be counting over her wash for the 
laundress." 

But she proceeded apparently to sign some 
documents in a stately way ; and when Rodney 
Owens laid a velvet cloak before her for her to 
tread upon, there was no doubt that she was 
personating Queen Elizabeth. 

" But what were you doing ? " asked Mrs 
Chester ; " and where was your ruff ? " 

" I thought I should be guessed directly if I wore 
a ruff," Clara explained, " and I was counting up 
my dresses to see if I really had three thousand, 
as Queen Elizabeth was reported to have." 

A number of young people went out for the 
next scene. 

" It must be Robinson Crusoe over again," 
said Mrs. Owens, as a party appeared in a large 
clothes-basket that served for a boat. 

" But there are too many of them," said Mrs. 
Fortescue. 

"It must be the Pilgrim Fathers," suggested 
Mr. Chester, who had left his game of " Cayenne " 
in the corner to witness the scene. 

" Only there are no Pilgrim Mothers," said 
Aunt Cecilia. 

" It must be Christopher Columbus," said 
Aspasia. 



ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 175 

" But no," exclaimed Angelina ; " do you not 
see, they wear a Roman costume, and there are 
the eagles borne in front, and they go stumbling 
up the shore, Rodney in front, — he is Julius 
Caesar landing in Britain." 

The older people found it difficult to continue 
their game of cards in the series of scenes that 
followed. 

" And we are to have but few more of these 
parties ! " exclaimed one and another. For the 
Fortescues were to go to Europe in the spring, 
all of them ; and " how could there be any Fagot- 
parties without the Fortescues ? " 

Two new games of cards were introduced in 
the course of the evening. One was thus de- 
scribed under the name of — 

Doubt It ! 

Any number of persons can play this game of 
cards, which should be played with two packs. 
The cards are dealt round in turn. Tlie player 
at the left of the dealer selects a card from his 
hand, and plays it in the centre of the table, face 
down, but naming the number of spots or rank 
of the card. The next person puts down a card 
in the same way, saying it is the next in order ; 
but if he has it or not, he may place any card 
he chooses, still declaring it to be the next card 



176 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

needed. If any member of the party douht it, lie 
can shout, " Douht it ! " and if the card prove not 
to be the one declared, its player is obliged to 
take all the cards on the table. If the card 
proves to be the one declared, the doubter must 
take all the cards. The object of the game is to 
get rid of the cards, and the one who is first out 
of them beats. If a player tries to cheat by put- 
ting down two cards at once, and is discovered, 
he must be obliged to take all the cards played. 
The cards should be played quickly, without 
delay. 

Mrs. Owens objected to the bad morals of this 
game ; though some tried to defend it by showing 
that the offender, if discovered, was punished, 
and might learn it is better not to cheat than to 
cheat. She objected also a little to the next 
game, not on account of the noise and laughter 
it occasioned, but she considered it not very 
" high-toned." It was offered by Mr. Jones, 
and called — 

Patent Medicines. 

Each player chooses the name of some patent 
medicine, such as " Perry Davis's Pain-Killer," 
" Radway's Ready Relief," " Ayer's Cherry Pec- 
toral," " Peptonix," etc. Any number can play. 
When all have declared their names, the cards 



ELEVENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 177 

are dealt round equally, and left in a pack, face 
down, in front of each player. The player at 
the dealer's left begins by turning up a card and 
placing it in front of him ; the next does the 
same, and each player in turn, forming a pile 
in front, until a card is turned up having the 
same spots, or of the same rank, as one pre- 
viously turned up. The players of the duplicate 
cards must then shout the name of each other's 
medicine as quickly as possible ; and the one who 
gets out first, and correctly, the other's name, 
wins all his front piles, when the object is to 
win all the cards. The game is sometimes 
played in a reverse way, when the object is to 
get rid of the cards ; and the one who fails to 
shout the other's name correctly or in time, 
must take the whole trick. 



12 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Queries. — Twenty Questions. — Clumps ; or, the Two 
Captains. — Hunt the Feather. — Buried Cities. 
— Initials. — Kiddle. — Answer to Kiddle. — 
Pass the Quarter. 

THE next party met at the Chesters*. A 
friend of Mr. Chester's, from the West, 
was called upon for the first Fagot. 

" As Mr. Martin is President of a Western Uni- 
versity," said Mr. Chester, introducing him, " I 
imagine that he intends to exercise our wits to 
the uttermost. There is an inexorable expres- 
sion about his face this evening that makes me 
fear the worst from him." 

" On the contrary," said Mr. Martin, " my 
game will be merely the asking and answering 
of difficult questions. Now, where better could 
I come than to Boston for both questions and 
answers ? My game, which has amused us much 
at home, is called — 

" Queries. 

" The players must first choose an umpire, 
who will preside over the game, which is played 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 179 

with partners. After the partners are chosen, 
each two of the players must prepare a puzzling 
question. The two who offer the question must 
themselves know the answer, which, however, 
may prove difficult for the rest. This question 
must be written at the top of a sheet of paper, 
which is folded and put in a hat held by the um- 
pire. When all have been deposited, the umpire 
draws out a question and passes it to the two at 
his right, who write upon the paper at the foot 
of the sheet what they believe to be the answer. 
["As in Historical Pictures," interpolated Eus- 
tace Brunton.] The papers are thus passed round 
in turn ; and when they reach the umpire again, 
he reads the successive answers aloud, marking 
the various answers, — the answers given by the 
originators of the questions, of course, being the 
right ones. Correct answers are marked 20 ; if 
with one fault, 15 ; and so on : utterly wrong, 
marked with a 0. Sometimes this game is 
played viva voce ; the questions are asked in turn 
by the umpire, and answers given. The names 
of the different writers are given at the time of 
marking the papers. The party of players that 
reaches first 100, or any number previously 
agreed upon, will beat." 

Mr. Chester gave a deep sigh as Mr. Martin 
finished his description. " Was I not right in 



180 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

my forebodings ? " he asked. " Examination- 
papers and competitive test and marking ! " 

Mrs. Chester, however, was already giving out 
papers, and the players were securing their part- 
ners, and were presently busy in little parties 
of two, discussing the questions they would 
propose. 

" We shall be able to furnish something for 
the columns of the Saturday ' Transcript,' " said 
Mr. Fortescue, as he secured Aspasia Brunton 
for his partner, — " an excellent chance to find an- 
swers for some of the difficult questions of life." 

" But the answers to the Queries," insisted Mr. 
Martin, " should be known by the questioners, for 
we do not wish to bother ourselves with insoluble 
problems. One of our questions, I remember, 
was, — 

" Query. What is the meaning of the ' H's ' 
one sees at the corners of the streets and on the 
sidewalks in Boston ? 

" Answer. They were dropped by the British 
when they evacuated Boston." 

Meanwhile great consultations were going on 
among the partners, and it was not long before 
numerous questions were passed into the hat 
held by Mr. Brunton. 

There was great laughter between Arthur and 
Cecilia before their question was prepared. 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 181 

" May we look at a map ? " asked Arthur. 

" I think not," said Mr. Martin ; " you must 
be sure of your own facts." 

" It is only a question of spelling," said Ar- 
thur ; " but I think we shall know as well as 
anybody else." 

Mr. Fortescue's and Aspasia's question was 
not confided to the hat till after great study 
and whispering between the two ; and evidently 
Mr. Chester and Angelina were well satisfied 
with theirs. 

Many of the questions could only be answered 
by those who proposed them ; but some were fam- 
ily questions, familiar to those of the same family. 
Arthur Chester, fresh from school, could give the 
answers to all the geographical Queries, and was 
pleased to find that but few gave the correct an- 
swer to the question proposed by himself and 
Cecilia Owens : " Where is the lowest tempera- 
ture in the world ? Werkrojanck, Siberia." 

" As difficult to pronounce as to spell ! " ex- 
claimed Angelina. 

Quite a number could give correctly the storm- 
signals ; but only Mr. Wyllis knew the rhymes 
that contain them all : — 

A sun of red is weather warm ; 
A sun of blue is general storm ; 
A crescent red is weather cold; 
A crescent blue is fair foretold; 



182 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

A star of red no change implies ; 
A blue star, local stormy skies ; 
A square of black on flag of white, 
A cold wave comes in all its might. 

For help in memorizing, the answer to the 
Query given by Mr. Fortescue and Aspasia 
was welcomed : — 

Q. What lines of an old poet will give, in the 
initial letters of twenty-one successive words of 
which they are composed, the initial letters of 
our Presidents in regular order ? 

The lines are : — 

" Wisdom and justice many men admire ; 
Jarring vice harms truth's pure, trembling fire. 
Pray be loyal, just; go! highest good acquire.'* 

Other Queries were : — 

Q, What river runs six months in one direc- 
tion, and then six in another ? 

A. Casiquiare, connecting the Orinoco and 
Kio Negro. 

Q. Does the shadow of a Bostonian ever fall 
toward the south ? 

A. No, because the sun is never north of his 
zenith. 

Q. What is the longest word in the English 
language ? 

A. Incomprehensibility. 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 183 

Q. Where is the Iron Gate ? 

A. It is a dangerous rapid in the Danube, 
that is now being removed by the Austrian 
Government. 

Q. Where is the real Hub ; that is, the centre 
of the country ? 

A. In the eastern part of Kansas is the 
real centre. The centre of population was near 
the village of Taylorsville, Ky., in 1880. 

Q, What is the meaning of the word " os " ? 

A. A low ridge of stone or gravel, sup- 
posed to be a moraine formed by glaciers, so 
called, in Scandinavia ; also, a similar ridge, 
supposed to be of moraine origin, in other coun- 
tries ; also, a ridge of sand and gravel formed 
under water by currents piling up the materials 
behind some obstruction. 

Q. What is a " shaw " ? We find the word in 
English books. 

A. A thicket ; a small wood or grove. It is 
used in the line, — 

*' The green shaw, the merry green woods." 

Various answers were given to the question 
submitted by Mr. Brunton and Mrs. Owens : 
" How many bones in the human body ? " The 
correct answer being, " 208 bones, not count- 
ing the teeth." 



184 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

The game was played in both ways. After a 
series of questions had been written and an- 
swered, Mr. Brunton gave out a fresh series 
to the different sets of partners in turn, which 
were answered by each in consultation. Some 
of these Queries were : — 

Q. From what country were pins first brought 
into England, and what queen used them first ? 

A, France ; Katharine Howard. 

Q. How many languages are there ? 

A. 6,750. 

(Mr. Fortescue inquired if this included Yola- 
piik, — a query nobody could answer.) 

Q. What is the oldest game in the world ? 

Various answers were given to this. The an- 
swer accepted was : Checkers, supposed to be 
over four thousand years old. 

"Then," said Mr, Chester, "we cannot con- 
sider chess our oldest ' chestnut.' " 

" Though that was played," said Mr. Fortescue, 
" at the siege of Troy." 

" The Chinese claim to be its originators," 
said Mr. Martin. 

" All of this reminds me," said Mr. Fortescue, 
" of our old game of ' Clumps,' which we have 
basely neglected in the midst of our Fagots." 

" But I was planning to recall it to-night," said 
Aspasia ; " for Mr. Martin gave me the other day 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 185 

some account of this game of ' Queries,' and I 
found he knew nothing of our old game of 
' Clumps; " 

" I have played often," said Mr. Martin, " the 
classic game of 'Twenty Questions,' and never 
tire of it. It is an excellent travelling game." 

" How did you play it ? " asked Eustace 
Brunton. 

"In the simplest way," replied Mr. Martin, 
giving his rules. 

Twenty Questions. 

One person thinks of some object not easily 
thought of or guessed, and the rest of the party 
are allowed to ask twenty questions about it, and 
no more. It is astonishing how a good ques- 
tioner will bring out the correct answer, merely 
by such questions as : " Is it animal, vegetable, 
or mineral ? " " Is it found in fiction or his- 
tory ? " and so on. 

" The terrible game of ' Clumps,' " said Mr. 
Chester, " is founded upon this simple diversion." 

" I do believe we gave it up," said Mrs. Chester, 
" because we used to fight over it so." 

" Our last battle was over the gray hair in Ho- 
mer's left eyebrow, I remember," said Angelina. 

" But where did the fight come in ?" asked Mr. 
Martin. 



186 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" Everywhere," answered Mr. Chester gloomily. 

" I remember," said Angelina, " Mr. Chester 
objected to everything. He objected to our an- 
swering that Homer ever existed in real life ; he 
declared he was a character in fiction." 

"No, I said you did not know but he was," 
interrupted Mr. Chester. 

" Then, whether in history or fiction, you ob- 
jected that we did n't know that he had any gray 
hair in his left eyebrow." 

" But if he begged his bread in seven towns in 
his old age," said Rodney Owens, " of course he 
had gray hairs." 

" But perhaps he had no left eyebrow," per- 
sisted Mr. Chester ; " perhaps he never begged 
his bread ; perhaps it was another man of the 
same name.'* 

Then arose a clamor, — everybody had some- 
thing to say. Mr. Martin wanted to know Mr. 
Chester's real opinion on the Homer question. 
Mrs. Chester declared she was shocked, for no- 
body ever " kept up " his Homer more than Mr. 
Chester did, — and indeed she confided to Mr. 
Martin that he carried a volume of the Iliad in 
his pocket when he travelled. 

"The idea of calling Homer 'a character in 
fiction ' ! " exclaimed Mr. Wyllis. 

" You see," said Mrs. Fortescue, " the kind of 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 187 

battles we used to wage over our ' Clumps ; ' but 
do let us calm down for Aspasia's description of 
the game." 

Aspasia read as follows : — 

Clumps (sometimes called The Two CAPTAms). 

The company should be divided into two par- 
ties, containing an equal number of persons. 
Each party or side chooses a leader. The two 
leaders go out of the room together, and decide 
upon some subject, object, or event which is to 
be guessed by the remainder of the company, to 
whom they then return. Each leader takes his 
place in the adversary's party, instead of his own. 
Any number of questions may be asked by the 
guessers, but the answers may only be given in 
the monosyllables " yes " and '' no," and the 
questions must be framed in such a way that 
they can be so answered. The side which first 
guesses the thing chosen is the victor. Both 
the leaders then join the victorious party, and 
new ones are chosen to continue the game, who 
in their turn join the victors. When the play is 
finished, that side wins the game which numbers 
the most individuals. 

Here is an illustration of the method of play- 
ing this game, the object chosen being a very 
simple one, easy of explanation : — 



188 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 
Object chosen, — Cinderella^ s glass slipper for the left foot. 

Q. Is it animal ? 

A. No. 

Q. Mineral? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Is it a manufactured article ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Did it exist in real life ? 

A. No. 

Q. In fiction ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Could it be carried in a quart cup ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Was it liquid ? 

^. No. 

§. Could it get into a pint cup ? 

A. No. 

G. Was it black ? 

A. No. 

Q. Red ? 

^. No. 

Q. White? 

^. Yes. 

Q. Was it for ornament ? 

A. Yes. 

§. Was it a jewel ? 

A. No. 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 189 

Q. Was it useful ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Was it used by a human being ? 

A, Yes. 

Q. Was it used by a man ? 

A, No. 

§. By a woman ? 

A Yes. 

Q. Was it an article of dress ? 

^. Yes. 

Q, Was it for the head ? 

J.. No. 

§. For the hands ? 

A, No. 

Q, The waist ? 

A. No. 

G. The feet? 

^. Yes. 

Q, Was it a stocking ? 

J.. No. 

§. A boot? 

A, No. 

§. A shoe ? 

J.. No. 

§. A slipper ? 

A Yes. 

Q. For both feet ? 

A. No. 



190 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Q. For the right foot ? 

A, No. 

Q. For the left ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Was it of gold ? 

A. No. 

§. Of silver ? 

^. No. 

§. Glass? 

A, Yes. 

§. Cinderella's glass slipper for the left 
foot? 

A Yes. 

This discovery is announced by clapping of 
hands from the triumphant party. 

" Cinderella's slipper was left, of course," was 
Mr. Chester's comment on the description. 

But the playing of the game was abandoned, 
for Mr. Erastus and Sally Chester had meanwhile 
been planning another Fagot, which was to be 
tried directly, Sally coming into the room with 
a large sheet over her arm. The game was 
described as — 

Hunt the Feather. 

The company must sit round in a circle on the 
floor, and a large sheet is taken into the middle 
of the circle, which each one of the party must 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 191 

seize, and hold it under his own chin, till it falls 
into a horizontal position. A feather is placed 
on the sheet, and one of the party remains out- 
side, who is to try to catch the feather, which is 
constantly blown from one to another. It is the 
object of each player to blow the feather away 
from himself, for he is obliged to take the place 
of the one outside if the feather is caught in 
front of him. He cannot help himself with his 
hands, which are busy holding the sheet in posi- 
tion under his chin. This is sometimes played 
with forfeits, the player who is touched by the 
feather being required to pay a forfeit. 

The laughter from the amusing efforts of 
the players quite removed any ill-feeling which 
might have lingered in the renewal of the old 
battles over " Clumps," and there was an in- 
terested row of spectators around the feather 
contest. 

" It quite takes the place of the old ' Hunt the 
Slipper ' of our childhood," said Aspasia. 

Some of the others had meanwhile withdrawn 
to look at some specimens of another favorite old 
game, which was described by Aunt Cecilia. 

Buried Cities. 

Lines of poetry or sentences are made, in 
which the name of some city is concealed. The 
letters forming the name must follow in due 



192 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

order, but are hidden, because they appear in 
different successive words. The following lines 
show the buried cities in the words under- 
scored : — 

Beau^?/ rewards the eyes / do not deny. 
Sweet lam&, ever lying on the grass. 

The following lines contain the names of two 

cities : — 

Rub-a-dub-dub, 
Linger not here ; 
Tarry not for a nap, 
Lest daylight appear. 

Some new sentences were given, as follows : 

He sent his wife Sara 
To gather the fruit, 
To be sold at wholesale, — 
Melons with them to boot. 

(This example contains two cities buried.) 

Did you think I was constant? I, no! 
Plebeians may be found so slow. 

Does the upholsterer consider buff a low tone for this 
room ? 

Clara Fortescue hoped there would be time to 
try a game for which she had brought the cards, 
and which she described, called — 

Initials. 

Provide yourself with a pack of cards upon 
which the letters of the alphabet have been 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 193 

printed conspicuously. There should be only 
one letter on each card, and more than one 
alphabet will be needed. Four or live will not 
be too many, but Z's and Q's are not as neces- 
sary as the other letters. Choose a leader ; place 
him where he can be seen plainly. He must put 
the cards on his knees, face downwards. He 
then calls for the name of some historian, gen- 
eral, country, town, or any object he pleases, be- 
ginning with the letter which lie turns up from 
the pack and holds up to view, reading it dis- 
tinctly as he does so. He must name his object 
before turning up the card. 

Whoever in the circle first names the object 
called for, receives the card. When the cards 
have all been used, he who holds the most has 
beaten. 

Thus, the leader says : " Name a shire in Eng- 
land beginning with — " [Here he turns up the 
top card, which shows the letter M] " M." 

Some one cries " Middlesex ! " and receives the 
card. 

Name one of Scott's heroines beginning 
with — F. 

Name one of Dickens's novels beginning 
with — R ; and so on. 

If no one can give an answer, the card returns 
to the leader. 



194 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

The interest of the game depends very much 
upon the quickness and versatility of the leader. 
He should make his objects as varied as possible, 
and allow no pauses. 

"We have not had a Riddle to-night," ex- 
claimed Cecilia Owens. 

" I am furnished with one," said Hector Brun- 
ton, " but I must confess that it is not original 
with me. I have the E-iddle, and an answer in 
rhyme. 

" Riddle. 

*' Fifty and 1 are my First and my Second^ 
That is, my Second and Third are ; 
My Whole is a crime, or as such would be reckoned 
By some people, far worse than murder." 

" How mysterious it sounds ! " exclaimed 
Cecilia. 

" What can it be ? " cried Sally. 

" I think I see it," said Mr. Fortescue, " but I 
should like to hear the answer. It is capital ! " 

Answer to Riddle. 

I cannot tell your Whole, yet 

If figures do not lie, 
If 1 and 2, and 2 and 3, are L and I, and i and e, 

I 've guessed it, haven't I? 

" The answer is as clever as the Riddle," 
exclaimed Mr. Martin and others ; but Sally 
Chester was still lost in the mystery. 



TWELFTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 195 
Another game was introduced, called — 

Pass the Quarter. 

The company sits in a ring, with one in the 
centre. Every person in the ring holds out 
the left hand open. With the right he makes 
the motion to take a quarter from his left hand 
and deposit it in the left hand of his neighbor 
on his right. There is actually one quarter in 
circulation. But with the continued motion 
all together, it is almost impossible to find. 
When the seeker finds it, the person who had 
it is " it.'' 



THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Grabouge. — Three - handed Whist. — Jacoby. — 
Boarded. — Domino Whist. — Kopak. — Photograph 
Whist. — Shadow Pantomime. — Eyes Puzzle. — 
Magical Music. — Fling the Towel. 

MRS. OWENS received the next Fagot-partj. 
She had suggested at their last meeting 
that it would be a good plan to collect a num- 
ber of games of cards suitable for summer even- 
ings, — " when it was too cold to stay out," as 
she said. 

" And for the older people," Mr. Chester added, 
" who never want to stay out." 

The rooms, therefore, were arranged with a 
number of tables for card-playing, and a variety 
of games were brought forward as Fagots. After 
listening to the explanations of the different 
games, the company broke up into parties for 
playing them, each Fagot-bearer present passing 
to a different table to explain morfe carefully his 
methods. 

Mrs. Owens herself described her favorite 
game of — 



THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 197 

Grabouge. 

This is a game usually played by four persons 
and with partners, and requires twelve packs of 
cards. 

After these are thoroughly shuffled, deal 
twenty-one cards to each person, to be placed 
on his right hand, face up, to form a stock or 
" Desperation Pile." 

Divide the rest of the cards into four equal 
packs, one for each player, face down. 

The one who has the lowest card uppermost 
on his stock begins to play by taking five cards 
from his pack. These he is to place on the 
table before him, ready to form four piles. If 
an ace turns up in the stock or in his hand, it is 
to be placed in the middle of the table as foun- 
dation for a sequence, as in games of Patience, 
not following suit. The game is continued by 
the first player laying down his five cards in his 
front piles, or distributing them on the sequences 
in the middle of the board, if he turns up cards 
that are suitable. After he has played all that 
he is able, his partner can " assist " (after his 
five cards are laid down), if he has any card avail- 
able on his reserved stock or in his front piles. 

Always use from the stock where it is possible, 
in preference to cards in the front piles. 



198 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

After the partner has assisted, the game passes 
on to the next in turn in the same way. When 
a pile is completed in the middle of the table, the 
one who puts on the king takes the trick. Each 
trick counts 1. The cards left in stock of a 
player after the other stocks are used, count as 
many to the opposite side as there are cards left. 

Great care must be taken in laying down the 
four piles that they may be easily used ; not 
putting high cards on low ones. 

The game ends satisfactorily when all the 
tricks are complete, and the side which has 
the most tricks beats. 

This game can be played by two or three or 
more persons, each one playing for himself. 

Mr. Wyllis brought forward — 

Three-handed Whist. 

Deal the cards to the three players, turning 
up the last as trumps, but never using it. Each 
person puts six cards before him on the table, 
face downward, six more above them, face up- 
ward, five cards remaining in the hand. Play as 
in ordinary whist, using either the cards in your 
hand or those turned upward on the table. As 
each of those exposed on the table is played, 
turn the card under it face upward, and play it 
also when needed. Of course there are no part- 



THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 199 

ners, and either five or ten tricks are game. 
Honors are scored as in long wliist, and all 
other laws of whist apply. 
Another game was introduced, called — 

Jacoby. 

This is played by three, the fourth hand held 
by Dumby. Deal as in whist, turning up the 
fourth hand, on the left of the dealer, for Dumby. 
His hand should be sorted in suits, in sequence, 
the highest cards uppermost, the clubs ranking 
highest in the first right hand row ; next the 
hearts, then spades, then diamonds. This or- 
der is necessary, as Dumby never has any choice 
in playing, following suit when he can, but when 
he cannot, playing the first card in the first row 
till that row is exhausted, then passing through 
the next in turn, and so on. 

Dumby never is allowed to take a trick, and 
therefore never leads. 

In playing, it is an object to get rid of the 
Jacks, as each Jack held by a player in the 
tricks he has taken, lessens his reckoning. 
Each trick counts 1. 

But every Jack of Clubs takes 4 from the comit. 
" " Hearts " 3 <' " 

" '' Spades " 2 "■ " 

" <' Diamonds " 1 " " 



200 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

For instance, if six tricks are taken with 
a Jack of clubs among the cards, only 2 are 
counted. 

Play as in whist, the highest card taking the 
trick, following suit. There is no trump. 

The game is 10. In counting up at the end, if 
any one has not tricks enough to balance . the 
value of the Jacks held, the sum lacking is set 
down as " minus." 

" Great skill is required," continued Mr. 
Wyllis, " to ward off the terrible possession of 
a Jack, especially the Jack of clubs, who takes 
away 4 from the count. It is, therefore, quite an 
object to get rid of the cards of one suit, to gain 
a chance to throw away an undesirable Jack." 

Mrs. Owens deserted the game of Grabouge 
that she had been superintending, to learn how to 
play a " two-handed " Patience, that would be 
useful for herself and Cecilia. This was called 

Boarded, — 

To be played by two persons, each with a 
well-shuffled pack. The player who cuts the 
highest card begins, and should lay out first a 
pile of thirteen cards at his right, to serve as 
stock, with face up. Then a column of four 
cards on the side of the table at his right. If 
any ace appears, it should be laid on the board 



THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 201 

for foundation of a sequence ; or if afterward 
any card available for carrying on a sequence 
turns up, it should be directly used. The player 
can then pile up on the cards in the side row, 
following suit, putting a five on a six, for in- 
stance, or any card in descending sequence, 
being careful always to use first any suitable 
card from his reserved stock. He plays from 
his pack as long as he has a card suitable, and 
then lays down a card in front of him, which 
serves as the beginning of a talon. 

The second player proceeds in the same way, 
making his stock and column of four cards, and 
using what he can. After this the game con- 
tinues, each player in turn playing what cards 
are available, and using both side columns of 
cards. Each player can put an available card 
on his adversary's stock, or talon, only he must 
be careful, then as always^ to use liis cards in 
this order : first, any available card from his 
stock ; then from either side row of cards ; then 
from his own talon, — ^ before using the card he 
is about to turn up from his pack. It is im- 
portant for him to follow this order, otherwise, 
if he neglects this, or makes any other mistake, 
his opponent can cry " Boarded ! " and he can go 
on no longer on that turn, his adversary pro- 
ceeding with the game. The talons can be 



202 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE, 

turned as often as needed. The player who 
uses up his cards first, wins. 

An interested party occupied themselves 
with — 

Domino "Whist. 

Three or more persons may play this game, 
but four is the most convenient number. All 
the cards are distributed, one at a time, to the 
players. The one .next the dealer puts down 
the seven of some suit, if he has it ; if not, he 
" passes," and must deduct 1 point from his 
score, which is 50 at the start. It is then the 
next person's turn to play either another seven, 
or the six or eight of the same suit as the seven 
previously played. If unable to play, he, too, 
must say " Pass," and lose a point by passing. 
The sevens are placed, as they are played, in a 
column in the middle of the board, one under 
the other, and the six or eight when played are 
put on the left and right of the seven of the cor- 
responding suit. The five, when it appears, is 
placed upon the six of the same suit, the four 
upon the five, and so on, down to the ace ; and in 
the same way the other cards, up to the kings, 
are built up on the eights of each suit, always 
following suit, each person losing 1 from his 
score each time he has to pass. As soon as any 



THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 203 

one plays his last card, each other player lays 
his remaining cards before him on the table, and 
has as many points deducted from his score as 
he has cards left to him. The winner, who is 
the player who can count the most in this reckon- 
ing, adds to his score the aggregate number of 
cards unplayed. The game may be played till 
each person has dealt once all round, or twice, 
or any number of times previously set, according 
as a short or long game is desired. The person 
having the largest score at the close wins, each 
starting with 50. 

It is convenient to have one person keep the 
score, carefully recording the deduction of 
*' passes." But counters can be used, each 
player beginning with fifty counters, putting 
one into the pool for each " pass ; " and the 
winner can draw from the pool the number 
of counters corresponding to the number of 
'cards held at the close by the other players. 

The game may be easily made " progressive," 
like progressive euchre. 

Mr. Martin prefaced his game with an explana- 
tion that it very much resembled the old game of 
Casino, as it is the Russian form of that game. 
But he had played it as taught by a friend from 
Alaska, and it was such a pleasant round game 
that he wanted to explain it. It was called — 



204 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Kapak, or Kopak. 

This game is played with a full pack of fifty- 
two cards. It regards principally the number 
of spots (generally without distinction of suit). 
The knave counts 11 ; queen, 12 ; king, 13. 
The good cards are the four aces, the ten of 
diamonds, and two of clubs ; these last are called 
the " good ten " and the " good two." All clubs, 
moreover, are better than other cards. 

If played by four, there may be partners, as in 
whist ; but any number can play, each on his 
own account. When played by four, cut for 
deal. Then the dealer deals four cards to each 
person, and turns up the next four in the middle 
of the table. The first player must now play 
one card, and he may take with it as many of 
the cards turned up on the table as count spots 
equal in number to the spots of the card he 
plays ; for instance, if there are among the cards 
on the table an ace and a six^ by playing a seven 
you take those two cards and put them before 
you with your seven, making three cards in a sort 
of trick that belongs to you. More than this, if 
there were also a seven on the table, you can take 
that also ; or if there were a two and a five, or a 
three and a four, you could take either combi- 
nation. You can take all the combinations that 



THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 205 

make seven ; that is, that equal the spots on the 
card you play. 

If at the first play there were besides an ace 
and a s^a;, also a two and a jive (or some other 
combination making seven), and you play neven^ 
so as to sweep the whole table, you shout " Ka- 
pak ! " and that scores you 1 in the final 
reckoning. You must be careful to mark the 
" kapaks " as they occur. This is done by turn- 
ing one card over among the cards of the trick 
taken. Sometimes a kapak may be made thus : 
Suppose there are on the table a two.^ two threes.^ 
and a jive., you play a king (13), and take 
them all. 

But of course it is not likely that the first 
player will make a Kapak. He plays one card, 
and probably takes one or two. Perhaps, how- 
ever, he can't take anything, in which case he 
must leave on the table the card that he plays. 
If he can't take anything, the table goes on with 
five cards for the second player. (If the first 
has taken something, there are only one, two, or 
three cards on the table.) The second player 
plays one card, and takes what he can, if any- 
thing, under the same principles, as stated above, 
for the first ; and so the game goes on. After 
going round four times, the cards in the hands 
of the players being exhausted, the dealer deals 



206 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

four more all round ; and again, till the pack is 
exhausted. Then the cards remaining on the 
table at the end of the pack go to the last pre- 
vious winners. The next hand then deals, be- 
ginning four all round, and turning up four on 
the table. 

But the score must be settled before the 
change of dealer, and it is done in this way. 
The party having most cards scores 2 for 
" cards ; " the party having most clubs scores 
1 for " clubs ; " then score 1 for each ace, 
1 for the " good ten ; " 1 for the " good 
two," 1 for each kapak. 

Points 

Cards 2 

Clubs 1 

Good ten 1 

Good two 1 

Four aces 4 

Points to score (besides kapak) ... 9 

Generally the score is kept open until one 
side or the other reaches a number previously 
agreed on, — say 61. But the game may be 
played like whist, game by game at each 
deal with a rubber. 

Of course, in playing, it is generally desirable 
to play a card which allows you to take an ace 
or the " good ten " or " two," in preference to a 



THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 207 

card which might allow you to take more cards, 
but leave the good one on the table. 

When a Kapak has been made, another very 
often follows immediately ; the player who makes 
kapak leaving nothing on the table, the next one 
perforce plays a card, taking nothing. Now, if the 
third player can match this one card, he makes 
kapak again ; and the fourth must again play 
one card, taking nothing. As first and third, 
second and fourth, are partners, a kapak is a 
" big thing.'' 

There is no difference when more or less than 
four play, except that the score ought not to be 
made up until everybody has played the same 
number of cards. 

A merry party was occupied for a short time 
with the game of — 

Photograph "Whist. 

For this collect all the old portrait photo- 
graphs you have of the size of playing-cards. 
Deal them round in turn, and play as in whist. 
The ugliest card takes. The one who takes the 
most tricks beats. 

Mrs. Owens objected very much to this game, 
as she was sensitive with regard to the photo- 
graphs of friends whom she held dear. But 
Rodney and Cecilia declared that it was a libel 



208 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

upon their friends to believe that they ever re- 
sembled the photographs which were collected 
to play with on this occasion. Rodney de- 
clared that he should be highly flattered if 
the photographs of himself in his earlier years 
should succeed in winning the tricks ; " for, ac- 
cording to the old proverb, it is the ugly babies 
that turn out handsome in the end." 

Many of the parties remained, going on with 
the games in which they were interested, while 
some of the young people begged to shut the 
folding-doors in preparation for — 

Shadow Pantomime. 

This is done behind a screen formed by a large 
sheet stretched across an open space, in front of 
which the spectators are to be placed. When 
all is ready, the lights are all removed in front 
of the sheet, and a strong light is placed behind 
the performers, who enact some scene or scenes, 
placing themselves very near the curtain, on 
which their shadows are thrown in clear outline, 
and seen by those in front. 

On this occasion a large kerosene lamp was 
placed at the back of the room where the per- 
formers were ; and after the screen was placed, 
the card-players were requested to lay down 
their cards for a while to witness the perform- 



THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 209 

ances, while the gas-lamps were turned down, 
and they were left to sit in utter darkness. 

Eustace Brunton was the leader in this game, 
and he proceeded to announce a procession of 
animals passing to a menagerie. These were 
represented in a remarkable manner by a series 
of shadows of some of the young men, who 
transformed themselves and enacted in turn an 
elephant, a hippotamus, camel, etc., the donkey 
performed by Arthur and his brother Jack per- 
haps exciting the most applause, with some very 
expressive movable ears. 

After this, the ballad of " Lord Ullin's Daugh- 
ter " was acted, Clara Fortescue singing the 
words behind the scene. . 

The "chieftain to the Highlands bound" was 
conspicuous from his tall, waving feather, and 
the boatman came up to shore in a boat that was 
improvised from a family clothes-basket, oval in 
form. The " father's men " were seen trooping in 
in a tumultuous manner across the stage, which 
was afterwards left for the tragic scene at the 
end. Cecilia Owens, as the heroine, was seen 
in shadow, — 

** One lovely hand she stretched for aid, 
And one was round her lover." 

The tall figure of Eustace Brunton was seen 
14 



210 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" left lamenting," while the " stormy water " 
was represented by the shaking of shawls, which 
" lashed the shore." 

The sheet was afterwards used for a trial of 
the — 

Eyes Puzzle. 

The folding-doors were brought nearly to- 
gether, and a figure appeared in the opening, 
with the upper part of the head shrouded, and 
a sheet held up in front of the lower part of the 
face, till only the eyes could show. The rest of 
the company were to tell whose eyes they were, — 
a question difficult to answer, when the surround- 
ings of the eyes are not seen. 

On this occasion Hector Brunton*s dark eyes 
gave great uncertainty. Many guessed them to 
belong to Aspasia. 

" I should have supposed that Hector's were 
coal-black," said Mrs. Chester ; " but these are 
a dark hazel." 

" Very few eyes, if any," said Mr. Martin, 
" are coal-black ; and it is the shadow of the 
eyebrow that gives the depth of color." 

Cecilia Owens, to assist in this, brought down 
her large Egyptian mantle, called a " habara," 
which covers the whole figure, — with a black 
band to pass across the forehead, to which was 



THIRTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 211 

attached a gilt " nose piece," connecting it with 
a long narrow black scarf which reached the 
ground. The scarf was brought up on the sides 
to each ear, thus leaving none of the face but 
the eyes to be seen. This proved an admirable 
disguise. 

" I wish we could have the old game of 
< Magical Music,' " said Mrs. Fortescue, as they 
were shuffling up the twelve packs of cards 
after a game of Grabouge. 

" Why not ? " asked Mrs. Owens. " Will not 
Clara play for us for a game of — 

'' Magical Music ? 

" One person must go out, and the rest of us 
must think of something for him or her to do, or 
something must be hidden, which the person who 
is out of the room is to find. On coming in, he 
is to learn what is to be done, by the strains of 
music which must be played to direct him. The 
strains must be low if he goes wrong, but very 
forcible and triumphant if he is right. They can 
even guide him to the corner of the room where 
he is expected to go:" 

Clara Fortescue seated herself at the piano. 
Both Sally Chester and Rose Grafton had gone 
out together, and came in to guess what they 
were to do by the strains of music played. 
These strains were very low as they passed 



212 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

through the front room, but grew louder as 
they went into the back room, and were soon 
led to a corner where a shawl belonging to Mrs. 
Owens hung over a chair. This they quickly 
seized, and by the strains of triumphant music 
carried it into the other room to put it upon 
Mrs. Owens's shoulders. 

" Do let us now," exclaimed Cecilia, " have a 
lively game of — 

" Fling the Towel. 

" The whole company must form a large circle, 
in the centre of which one of the players stands. 
A large towel must then be flung by some one in 
the circle, with the intention of reaching some 
other player. If the player in the middle suc- 
ceeds in catching it on its way, he takes the 
place of the one who flung the towel, who must 
take his place in the middle. If it hits the other 
player at whom it was aimed, this player must 
try to get rid of it by flinging it to somebody 
else before the one in the middle can reach it. 
This is difficult if the towel has fallen over his 
head ; and he is likely to be caught, and obliged 
to take the place in the middle." 

This game gives occasion for great activity ; 
and all those at the card-tables deserted their 
cards to join in, as the larger the party, the 
merrier. 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Metamorphosis. — Farmyard. — Sapolio. — Travel- 
ling Alphabet. — Whispers. — Epitaphs. — Novel. 
— Impromptu Newspaper. — Beasts, Birds, and 
Fishes. — Cat's Concert. 

THE next party met, at the invitation of Mr. 
Martin, at the hotel in which he was stay- 
ing. " I have prepared," he said, " a supply of 
pencils and paper, as I am especially fond of the 
writing kind of game." 

" And, do confess," said Mr. Chester, " that 
you think Bostonians pine for such, and that 
men, women, and children, we are all scrib- 
blers ! " 

" I am going to ask you to become artists," 
said Mr. Martin, " for I will be the first to bring 
my Fagot forward, with the game of — 

" Metamorphosis. 

" Each member of the company must be fur- 
nished with a slip of paper and pencil, and must 
draw at the top of the sheet the head of some 
animal, — human being, beast, or bird. This he 
folds down, and passes to his next neighbor, 



214 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

receiving a sheet in turn, folded down in the same 
way. Some lines should be left below the fold to 
show in what part of the paper the neck is placed. 
To this must be attached, by the person who re- 
ceives it, the body of any animal ; and this must 
be turned down in the same way and passed on. 
To this some legs must be added, — two or four 
legs, according to the fancy of the artist. 
When the papers are unfolded, the animals 
prove far different from those planned by their 
originators." 

Some remarkable pictures were the result of 
this game. 

" It might be called the game of Evolution," 
suggested Mr. Chester ; " only some of these fig- 
ures can scarcely be called an advance, — not 
the Ascent, but the Descent, of Man ! " 

A lively game was introduced by Mr. Erastus, 
called — 

The Farmyard. 

The leader must go round the circle, giving to 
each person the name of some animal, — beast 
or fowl. These names he whispers to each in turn. 
He gives them at the same time two signals : 
when he raises his right hand, each animal must 
make the noise peculiar to his kind. As soon as 
he raises his left hand, all must be silent. 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 215 

Mr. Erastus acted as leader, going round tlie 
circle, giving to each a character. When he raised 
his hand there came up the mingled strains of a 
farmyard, — the horses neighed, the cows mooed, 
the dogs barked, the cocks crowed, the geese 
hissed, the turkeys gobbled. The younger mem- 
bers of the party gladly gave themselves to this 
performance, and prolonged with delight their 
characteristic screams. 

Silence was suddenly commanded and restored 
when the left hand was raised ; but, solitary and 
alone, the voice of the donkey interrupted it with 
a loud-sounding " hee-haw." For, as Mr. Eras- 
tus continued to explain, the leader, in whis- 
pering' his signals to the different members, is 
careful to inform the donkey that his character- 
istic noise is only given a little louder when the 
left hand is raised. 

Eustace Brunton was the one selected for this 
character, and he bore the laugh against him 
with the more philosophy as he was somewhat 
proud of his gifts in rendering the bray of the 
donkey. 

After the laugh was over, Eustace Brunton 
said : " On my way here, I invented a new game ; 
so I think I deserve better of my kind — " 

"We are much obliged to you," interrupted 
Mr. Chester. 



216 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" I always wondered where games came from," 
said Mr. Martin ; " it is delightful to trace one 
at its source." 

Eustace presented his new one as — 

The Sapolio G-ame. 

" Each member of the company, in turn, gives 
a motto for Sapolio, introducing a letter of the 
alphabet, taken in order. 

" For instance," he went on, " I will give — 

*' A was an Andiron, dingy and old; 
S was Sapolio, that changed it to gold." 

Rodney Owens went on : — 

" B was some Banisters, not fit to be seen; 
But up came Sapolio, to make them quite clean." 

Others followed : — 

" D is the Dust that was soon put to flight 
By S for Sapolio, that brought day from night.'* 

'' E is the Everything cleaned by Sapolio, — 
The list would fill up the F of a Folio." 

The alphabet was quickly run through, the 
less inventive of the party borrowing basely 
from the advertisements they remembered in 
the horse-cars. 

The next game suggested was — 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 217 



The Travelling Alphabet. 

The players sitting in a row, the first one must 
mention the name of some city he is going to, be- 
ginning with the letter A, and must ask of his 
neighbor what he shall do there. The next per- 
son must make an answer in which all the verbs 
and nouns begin with an A, the same letter as 
the city just mentioned begins with. He must 
then mention a city beginning with the letter B, 
and ask of his neighbor what he shall do there ; 
and the answer must be given in the same way, 
the principal words beginning with the letter B. 
The alphabet can be gone through with as far as 
you please in the same manner. The game was 
begun as follows : — 

" I am going on a journey to Athens ; what 
shall I do there ? " 

" Admire ancient antiquities." 

" I am going on a journey to Boston ; what 
shall I do there ? " 

" Be bothered by Browning." 

" I am going to Cambridge ; what shall I do 
there ? " 

" Call on clever collegians." 

" I am going on a journey to Damascus ; what 
shall I do there?" 



218 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" Dance with the dervishes." 

" We might go on with this game forever," 
said Mr. Chester ; " there 's something very 
soothing about it." 

" Suppose we stop for the Fagot that Rose 
Grafton has brought," said Aspasia, — "the game 
of — 

" "Whispers. 

" It is very simply described. Each person 
whispers to his neighbor on the right some 
name, and on the left a motto. Afterward 
each person repeats aloud the name and the 
motto that have been given him." 

The following are specimens of some of the 
" Whispers," which give the name and motto 
as they came by chance together : — 

Wordsworth. 

" Beauty chased he everywhere^ — 
In flame, in storm, in clouds of air." 

George Eliot. 
" Life is real, life is earnest." 

Count Tolstoi. 
*' My little body is aweary of this great world." 

John L. Sullivan. 
'' His bark is worse than his bite." 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF. FAGOTS. 219 

Queen Victoria. 
" Where there 's a will, there 's a way.'* 

Lydia Pinkham. 
*' I have an exposition of sleep." 

In a talk that followed about the stories of a 
great blizzard that had prevailed a week before, 
everybody congratulated each other that the 
Fagot-party did not occur the night of the 
storm, for that night had first been appointed, 
but afterward had been changed. 

" Those of us who did assemble would have 
had to write the epitaphs of the others," said 
Mr. Chester. 

" Why not write them now ? " exclaimed 
Eustace ; " it must be gratifying to be able 
to read our own." And he thus started the 
game of — 

Epitaphs. 

" Here is a simple one on Miss Grafton ; — 

Here reposes 

The ashes of Rose's." 

" No wonder Mr. Chester started this sugges- 
tion," said Mr. Fortescue, " for doubtless his 
parents gave him the name of Charles Gordon, 
in view of his epitaph : — 



220 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 



Ci-GiT 
Chester." 

To which Hector Brunton added, — 

He died as he lived, — a 
Jester. 

Mr. Erastus made one upon Cecilia Owens : 

So much " Patience" she has Taught, 
We all shall Place (without dissent) 
The sole Memorial that we ought, 
Of Patience on Her Monument. 

Rodney Owens suggested this : — 

Aspasia Brunton, 
She left her Pallet 
For the Pallet of the Poor 
And to cater to their Palate. 
For their Ease 
She forsook her Easel 
And relinquished her Brushes 
For Brushes with the Policemen. 
Pity, O Pity, 
To lose a Pittore ! 

Another followed — 

On 

Mr. Erastus, 
Who cut himself in shaving. 
This happy age has brought the reign of peace ; 
But will the reign of bloodshed never cease ? 
I could protect myself 'gainst foreign conquerors' steel, ■ 
No talisman could hold my treach'rous razor's heel. 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 221 

On 

Miss Angelina B. 

An Angel there? an Angel here; 

For no one who has seen her 
But what will say it seems as though 

She had an Angel in her. 

" Why should we not amuse ourselves," said 
Mr. Wyllis, " with relating a — 

"Novel? 

" One person begins with a story, and carries 
it along till he reaches an exciting point, when 
he suddenly calls upon somebody else, who must 
continue ifc, by carrying on the thread of the 
story, and then in an interesting part leaving 
it for some one else to go on with it. 

" I will begin," continued Mr. Wyllis, " by 
calling upon Mr. Jones to start the Novel." 

Mr. Jones, nothing daunted, began. He had 
lived many years in India, and started with an 
exciting account of a tiger-hunt; and had just 
reached a thrilling moment at the death of — 
somebody, when he called upon Angelina Brun- 
ton to go on with it. She took up the thread 
directly, and showed a wonderful skill in using 
all the East Indian terms, such as " bungalow," 
" tiffin," and " ghorawallah," and bringing in 
East Indian customs in an exaggerated way ; but 



222 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

soon got her characters off upon a P. and O. 
steamer, when she called upon Mr. Martin to go 
on. He brought the personages in the novel into 
a most trying position, and left them to Aspasia 
to release them. At the beginning a heroine had 
been introduced, and by this time she had a series 
of admirers, and each fresh person who took up 
the tale amused himself by favoring one or an- 
other of the lovers, whose successes the next to 
take up the story would crush in a ruthless man- 
ner, to the advantage of a fresh aspirant. 

" I think it is a great pity that all this is not 
written down," said Mr. Brunton at last. 

" Why, indeed," suggested Eustace Brunton, 
" should not we start an — 

'' Impromptu Newspaper? 

" Appoint some one an editor, and each mem- 
ber of the company must then write an article 
and send in to him, which he shall read aloud 
when all are collected." 

The idea was received with enthusiasm. Mr. 
Martin's pencils and paper were directly put in 
requisition, and almost everybody set to work 
scribbling. 

Eustace Brunton was appointed editor, and in 
course of time he was able to present the news- 
paper of the evening, — > 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 223 

Vol. I. BOSTON, APRIL 1. No. 1. 

" One is enough" 

EDITORIAL COMMENTS. 

A NUMBER of titles have been suggested to us 
for this paper, and we wish to render our thanks 
for the numerous hints we have received in this 
line. One correspondent informs us that it can- 
not be called a " journal," because it is not pub- 
lished in the day. Another that it should not be 
called a " weekly," as he hopes it will not be 
weak. We might have accepted " The Moment " 
as a title ; but it was but a moment, and is gone. 
" The Second " was proposed ; but as there 
never will be a second, this was rejected. 

We therefore offer it under its present name, 
in the hope that our readers will allow No More 
is needed. 

The Editors solemnly promise that certain 
phrases shall not occur more than once in these 
columns. Therefore at the outset they insist 
themselves upon using the overworked statement 
(although true on this occasion) that " they have 
the courage of their convictions ; " in order that 
it may not appear again, any manuscripts contain- 
ing it will be directly consigned to the waste-paper 
basket. 

It is our pleasure to state in advance that we 
shall not attempt any especial order in the ar- 
rangement of the several articles we present to 



224 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE, 

our readers, and we are pleased to be encouraged 
in our lack of conventionality by some forcible 
words of Dr. Channing, who says : " It is the 
mark of a weak mind to make an idol of order 
and method, and to cling to established forms of 
business where they clog instead of advancing 
it." 

ART NOTES. 

We must confess that we can hardly conceive 
the state of mind which can calmly tolerate, 
much less enjoy, a collection of pictures whose 
general character is so deplorable as that of the 
works now shown at the Fine Arts Club. The 
large picture in the centre. No. 10, by Mr. Scar- 
lett, " Child and Rabbit in a Greenhouse," is an 
example of the prevalent realistic school in one 
of its most revolting aspects. Who and what is 
this child ? It appears but two years of age at 
most ; but its air of premature depravity suggests 
its having entered the greenhouse in a bur- 
glarious manner, while the presence of the rab- 
bit gives reason for fearing that a theft of this 
innocent animal had already been committed 
before the later crime. The technique is fine ; 
but what, we would ask Mr. Scarlett, is tech- 
nique ? what is skill ? what is Art itself, — when 
used to encourage, nay, to invite to, the hideous 
crime of burglary ? 

On either side of the production of this mis- 
taken young man hangs a marine, by Mr. Far- 
rington. One bears the brief title of " The 
Billow ; " the other is called " Sunrise." Mr. 
Farrington's admirers profess to enjoy these 
works ; we confess ourselves unable to do so. 
Where, we would ask, is the use of two land- 
scapes whose only merit is the servile following 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 225 

of Nature ? Where is tlieir moral purpose, Mr. 
Farrington ? Show us your moral purpose ! 

And so on, through a list, too long, of dazzling 
and delusive paintings. But here and there some 
modest work looks shyly forth to refresh the 
wearied eye. Miss Millie Sickles exhibits a 
sweet painting, entitled " Blue Bells." This is 
real Art ; here is no slavish imitation of Blue 
Bells, — in fact, we should scarcely have known 
that these were Blue Bells. But all the poetry, 
all the charm, all the gladsome grace of Blue 
Bells are here. Go on. Miss Millie Sickles ;.you 
at least have found a modest woodland path 
which will lead far above the arid summits 
sought by Scarlett and Farrington, to peaceful 
heights among the revered presences of Raphael, 
Michael Angelo, and the great Da Vinci. 

PROBABILITIES. 

The Weather. — Indications (for twenty-four 
hours). Partially cloudy weather, with winds 
shifting from northerly to southeasterly, veering 
occasionally to fresh westerly. Generally fair, 
with local rains, turning to snow. 

Probabilities m Social Circles. — Weather in 
Boston. Cold, at freezing-point, thawing on rare 
occasions. Wind east, and blowing at the rate 
of sixty miles an hour. 

MONEY MARKET. 

Closing quotations at last sales. We give 
only the chief feature of to-day. This was a 
speculation in Tamarinds. They began at 34, 
and jumped 10 points to 44, — perhaps in con- 
sequence of a holiday and the small boys. 
15 



226 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

TERRIBLE CASUALTIES 

In the Town of Sanguis! This Beautiful 

Village, Subject to every Form of 

Calamity except that of a 

$1,000,000 Fire! 

It is not 

DELIVERED OVER TO FLAMES, 

But every other Kind of Fatality 

Has visited it. 

ALL THE SURGEONS HAVE STRUCK! 

Great Consternation! Surgeons summoned from 
THE Neighboring Town of Ossis! 

FRESH CALAMITIES BEFALL THEM! 
A Chapter of Accidents! 

Michael Mourtgan fell senseless from a lad- 
der with rotten rungs as he was about to help the 
slaters on the roof of Widow Hunting's house. 
She died of fright. James Bartle broke his leg 
in Tim Oliver's saw-mill ; Sarah Jones's boy 
was hurled half way across the circus by the 
elephant as he was trying the experiment of 
making a pincushion of the beast's proboscis. 
And so on. 

Terrible to relate, all the surgeons in the town 
were deaf to all the cries of the injured and the 
entreaties of their friends! " Shall not our turn 
come ? " they exclaimed. " If locomotive engi- 
neers can keep half a continent at bay, stop 
the mails, prevent the absent wife from get- 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 227 

ting to the bedside of her djang husband, and 
let a sick infant starve for want of milk, — 
are we to be turned out of our warm beds at 
dead of night to set a bone or apply a plas- 
ter for the miserable pittance which we have 
been receiving ?" 

Upon hearing this, the Sanguinians sent for 
the surgeons at Ossis. But as soon as Dr. Lan- 
cet was seen entering our town, a big mastiff was 
set upon liim that scared his horse so that the 
doctor was upset and left almost helpless. Word 
was sent out, too, " Let any surgeon from Ossis 
come this way if he dare ! " 

So here they are, without surgeons. But 
Mother Huldah and Aunt Thompson, as we 
call those good old nurses who earned their 
laurels in war-time, are on hand, and will 
help to tide us over the present emergency. 

What Uncle John thinks. — I have observed 
the difference between people of brazen faces 
and people of silver tongues. I recollect having 
read in one of the classical books that brass 
mirrors were preferred to silver ones. That was 
because they were better reflectors. Let us 
hope that this is not true of people with brazen 
faces. 

We believe that the Associated Charities and 
Home Mission during this next summer will 
be able to receive some hints for disinterested- 
ness in as old a story as the " Sakuntala." 
As represented in that drama, three girls are 
watering flowers in a sacred grove. One of 
them says to another : " My beloved friend, the 
shrubs which you have watered flower in the 



228 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

summer, which is now begun. Let us give water 
to those which are past their flowering time, 
for our virtue will be the greater when it is 
disinterested." 

Hints for Suburbans in choosing a Home. — 
The " Hiotpadeza " says : " Let no man fix his 
dwelling but where five advantages are found, — 
wealth, a divine teacher, a magistrate, a river, 
and a physician." 

Latest Fashion for Evening Parties. — In 
the Jumna country, south of Abyssinia, they 
teach monkeys to officiate as torch-bearers at 
a supper-party. They are seated on raised 
benches, and hold the lights till the departure 
of the guests. Occasionally, one of them gets 
unruly, and throws his torch into the midst 
of the guests. For such behavior the remedy 
is sticks and starvation. 

TABLE GOSSIP. 

The world of wealth and fashion assembled 
last evening at the house of one of our most 

esteemed and influential citizens, Mr. B n, 

and the entertainment provided for the amuse- 
ment of this brilliant assembly was highly ori- 
ginal, and even surpassed some of the former en- 
tertainments at this hospitable mansion. First 
came tableaux vivants, presenting groups of 
lovely women and manly men in glowing, ar- 
tistic costumes. Then followed charades, be- 
traying wit and humor only to be found in the 
intellectual circle of which this family form 
the centre. But the crowning glory of the 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 229 

whole was a pantomime, with which the per- 
formances closed, and which was a delicate 
tribute to one of the talented and cultured 
daughters of the amiable host. The first scene 
represented Cleopatra holding in her hand the 
venomous destroyer of her life. The second 
depicted a scene in the tropics, which was skil- 
fully pictured by pots of aloes and ferns from 
the greenhouse, with two live monkeys clamber- 
ing over them, and a parrot which uttered the 
beloved name of its lovely mistress. The whole 
was represented by Miss B n in Greek cos- 
tume as the brilliant woman whose name is 
linked with that of Pericles. 

Paper, but no Papyrus. — Oddly enough, 
papyrus is no longer found in Egypt. They 
probably grubbed it all up for their paper fac- 
tories. It is raised as a curiosity near Syracuse, 
and travellers can buy specimens of modern 
papyrus manufactured there. 



SPECIMEN OF BEHEADED RHYMES. 



The maiden went to pick the four-leaved - 
And there she met her long predestined — 
And then she knew for her it all was — 



Now well you know this maiden's name was 
And her betrothed youth was known as — 
Who with him led her to the Roman — 



And this young man, indeed, was very — 
His last name, as you now must know, was — 
Who vowed to love forever and for — 



230 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 



POET'S CORNER. 

Smiles of pleasure dare I show ? 

No, no, no! No, no, no! 
Does she one smile of grace bestow? 

No, no, no! No, no, no! 
Then shall I from her faithless go? 

No, no, no ! No, no, no ! 

Hopes of joy may I confess? 

Yes, yes, yes! Yes, yes, yes! 
For smiles of favor onward press ? 

Yes, yes, yes! Yes, yes, yes! 
And with joy my love profess ? 

Yes, yes, yes! Yes, yes, yes! 



PLEASANTRIES. 

Miss A. (who has just returned from a tour in 
Europe) : The Germans are certainly the rudest 
people in the world. They always acknowledge 
any favor you may do them by calling you a 
" donkey." 

She : What are your sentiments, my dear, 
about my getting a new spring bonnet ? 

He : I think my centiments are likely to be 
dollar-ous. 

" What a queer title for a paper, ^ The 
For'um ! ' For whom, I should like to know ? 
— Why, it must be for the License Party ; 
it is for Rum." 

Mr. W. says : " My father has just been exe- 
cuted and hung by my wife's father." (His 
wife's father was an artist.) 



FOURTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 231 

After the newspaper had been read and re- 
read, the suburbans declared that they must go 
home, but were detained to try another Fagot, 
called — 

Beasts, Birds, and Fishes. 

The party forms a circle ; one stands in the 
middle and points suddenly at some one, crying 
out, "Beast," or "Bird," or "Fish," as he 
chooses, and counting ten as fast as he can. 
The one pointed at must mention the name of 
the beast or bird or fish demanded, before the 
counting stops, or he must take the place in 
the middle. 

This was quickly played in a most animated 
way, as all were standing up, and created much 
amusement. 

Arthur Chester insisted that they should end 
off with the game of — 

Cat's Concert. 

The whole party stand around a leader, and 
at a given signal they all begin to sing any tune 
they like. 

It was difficult to bring this concert to a 
close, till Mrs. Chester insisted that they would 
all be turned out of the house if they did not 
leave. 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

CuM-jE-cuM. — Apprentice my Son. — Capping Verses. 
— The Farmer. — Johnny's Trade. — Barberry 
Bush. — Ancestors. — Throw a Light. — United 
States Mails. — Stage Coach. — Uncle Sam. — 
Four Fans of Five. 

ALARGtE party assembled at the Fortescues', 
and many young people, — some very lit- 
tle folks, friends of Bessie Fortescue, who were 
allowed to sit up till a late hour, because " the 
Fortescues were going away," and '' they might 
all be grown up before they came back again." 
They begged for some youthful games, and Mrs. 
Fortescue was asked to show them some she 
used to play when she was a child. 

" Can't you remember, Clara," she said to her 
daughter, " some of those I used to teach you ? " 

" There is one game we used to play forever ; 
Tom and I were brought up on it, — ' Cum-je- 
cum ! ' " said Clara. 

" Oh, yes ! " " Oh, yes ! " " Do let us have 
Cum-je-cum once more ! " were exclamations 
heard on all sides. 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 233 

" The name seems to be a combination of 
French and Latin," said Mr. Chester. 

" Everybody knows how to play it," said Mrs. 
Fortescue ; but she proceeded to give the direc- 
tions. 

Cum-je-ctim. 

Nobody goes out of the room, but somebody 
thinks of a word. Without even saying he has 
thought of a word, he utters the mystic phrase, 
" Cum-je-cum ! " " What do you come by ? " 
exclaim the others. He answers, " I come by a 
B.," or " a G.," or whatever letter the word he 
thought of begins with. The person who guesses 
it has to give the next word. 

" Cum-je-cum 1 " exclaimed Eustace Brun- 
ton. 

" What do you come by ? " was the questioning 
reply. 

" I come by F. F. F.," answered Eustace. 

" Oh, that is too easy ! " exclaimed Clara 
Fortescue- 

" You don't mean * Fagots for Fireside ' are 
too easy?" suggested Mr. Chester. 

" Cum-je-cum," said another. 

" What do you come by ? " 

" I come by H. C," was the reply. // 

" Horse-Cars," suggested Mr. Chester. 



234 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" Oh, no ! it must be something in this room," 
said Clara. 

After various questions and answers had been 
rattled off in this way for some time, Aspasia 
Brunton said : " I think we always preferred, in 
our family, the kindred game of Apprentice My 
Son." 

" How is that played ? " asked Rodney Owens ; 
" the old games ought not to be allowed to die 
out." 

" We play it frequently still," said Aspasia ; 
" my younger brothers are very fond of it, and 
will be glad to join in it to-night ; but I suppose 
Jimmy would prefer to have me explain — 

"Apprentice My Son. 

" One of the party begins by saying, ' I appren- 
ticed my son to a grocer,' or ' to a confectioner,' 
or to any tradesman or salesman, and gives the 
initials of the first thing his son sold ; and the 
rest must guess what it is. Whoever guesses 
it must proceed to ' apprentice ' his son." 

" I apprenticed my son," said Arthur Chester, 
" to a hardware store, and the first thing he sold 
was a B. A." 

" Brass Andiron," " Burnt Alum," " Boston 
Advertiser," were offered in vain; but Jimmy 
Fortescue guessed " Brad-Awl," which was right. 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 235 

Jimmy apprenticed his son to a hardware 
store, and the first thing he sold was a L. .T. K. 
Mr. Chester suggested '^ Little John Knife ; " 
but Timmy Brunton exclaimed, with blazing 
eyes, " Large Jack-Knife." 

Timmy Brunton went on : "I apprenticed my 
son to a new cook, and the first thing he made 
was an 0. D. C. P." 

" Old Dominion Chicken-Pie," came from many 
voices ; for all were " up " on their " Good House- 
keeping." 

" I must explain that we had one this very 
day," said Aspasia. 

But this started a train of suggestions, and a 
series of new dishes for cooking was given out as 
the work of different " sons" apprenticed to cooks 
or cooking-schools by different members of the 
party. 

" I was glad the other night," said Mr. Ches- 
ter, after this game had been going on for some 
time, " to hear so young a person as Rodney 
Owens allude to ' Capping Yerses.' I was afraid 
this classical game had passed to the shades with 
the rest of the ghosts." 

" We used to play it at school," said Ange- 
lina ; " but that is now many years ago, and 
we have played it lately a *good deal at the 
seashore." 



236 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" It would be interesting to try it in so min- 
gled a company as this," said Mr. Fortescue. 
" It would show how the fashion of poets passes 
away. I suppose the poets I should quote from 
would appear like old fogies to young people ; 
but, I confess, I should find it as difficult to 
describe the game as to explain how I put on 
my boots." 

Mr. Chester gave an explanation in the follow- 
ing way : — 

Capping Verses. 

Some one begins by quoting a line of poetry ; 
the person who sits next him must directly, with- 
out pause, give a line beginning with the letter 
with which the last word of the previous line 
ended. Whoever fails to give a line in the time 
allotted, drops out of the game, which is some- 
times left for a long time to two contestants, 
when at last one remains alone as victor. 

The game was played for some time by a circle 
of twenty or more, who gradually dropped away, 
leaving a few who were anxiously watched by 
those who had been obliged to yield. Mr. Ches- 
ter, Mr. Fortescue, Hector, and Aspasia Brunton, 
Rodney and Cecilia Owens, Mr. Wyllis, and Mr. 
Erastus held out till the last, and might have, 
apparently, kept up the game all night. Mr. For- 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 237 

tescue had kept a note of the lines given, and 
afterward read out a part of them, as follows : 

" Hail, holy light! offspring of Heaven's first born." 

" No! the heart that has truly loved never forgets." 

" Still like muffled drums are beatin^r." 

" ' Good speed! ' cried the watch, as the gate bolts un- 
drew." 

*' Words of a distant time and lanrf." 

*' Dear as remembered kisses after deatA." 

*' Hope springs eternal in the human breast." 

" The curfew tolls the knell of parting day." 

*' You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother 
dear." 

*' Eoll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roK." 

*' Life is real, life is earnest" 

*' Tell me not in mournful numbers." 

*• Said Abner, < At last thou art come! ere I tell, ere thou 
spea^.' " 

*' ' Kiss my cheek, wish me well.' Then I wished it, and 
did kiss his chee^." 

" Kind hearts are more than coronets." 

" Slowly and sadly we laid him down." 

" Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note." 

" Ez for war, I call it murder." 

*' Ruin seize thee, ruthless kin^." 

** Great contest follows, and much learned dusf." 

*' The creeping tide came up along the sane?." 

*' Dealing destruction; devastating doom." 

** Made him our pattern to live and to die.'* 

*' Each in his narrow cell forever laic/." 

" Dare to be true; nothing doth need a lie." 

*' Earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected." 

" Here," said Mr. Fortescue, " are twenty-six 



238 FAGOTS FOR TEE FIRESIDE. 

lines, given consecutively, and here are their 
authors, taken in order : Milton, Moore, Long- 
fellow, Browning, Milnes, Tennyson, Pope, 
Gray, Tennyson, Byron, Longfellow, Longfel- 
low, Browning, Browning, Tennyson, Wolfe, 
Wolfe, Lowell, Gray, Cowper, Kingsley, Anony- 
mous, Browning, Gray, George Herbert, Lowell. 
There are four lines of Longfellow, four of 
Browning (it is quite striking that Browning 
' caps ' his own lines in the two quoted from 
' Saul'), three of Tennyson, three of Gray, two 
of Lowell, and so on. A pretty good showing, 
too, of the older poets. I must confess that my 
memory went back to the alphabetical lists of 
lines I used to keep when a schoolboy, that T 
might have a needed letter all ready. ' E ' was 
always in demand, and to-night my memory 
found up a ' G ' in such a list, from Cowper's 
' Garden,' of which I remembered nothing else ; 
it is a good line, too, — 

*' ' Great contest follows, and much learned dust.' " 

" We used to give a whole couplet at school," 
said Aspasia ; " this did not break up the mean- 
ing as much as by taking several lines." 

" Hear the lively shouts of the children," said 
Angelina ; '' all this has not been entertaining 
for them, since they have deserted us." 

Some of the very young people had, indeed, 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 239 

gathered in a corner of one of the other rooms 
to show some of the Kindergarten games, such 
as The Farmer, with its refrain of, — 

" Would you know how does the farmer, 
Would you know how does the farmer, 
Would you know how does the farmer 
Sow his barley and wheat? " 

Then accompanied with action, — 

" Look you, so, so does the farmer, 
Look you, so, so does the farmer, 
Look you, so, so does the farmer 
Sow his barley and his wheat." 

The remaining stanzas begin as the first, but 
close with different questions, such as, — 

" How does the farmer 
Reap his barley and his wheat ? " 

The song thus goes on to show the motions of 
reaping, threshing, sifting, and finally of " taking 
home " the barley and wheat. All this was done 
with great spirit by the little people, who showed 
also the game of — 

Johnny's Trade. 

Johnny had to learn a trade, that he might earn his 

bread ; 
His mother said: " A miller be, and want you need not 

dread." 
But Johnny did not like the sound the mill-wheels made 
in turning round. 

Tra la la la la la la, etc. 
Then did little Johnny cry: " A miller, no, not I! " 



240 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Johnny had to learn a trade, that he might earn his 

bread ; 
His mother said : " A blacksmith be, and want you need 

not dread." 
But Johnny did not like the sound that from the anvil 
did resound. 

Tra la la la la la la, etc. 
Then did little Johnny cry: '* A blacksmith, no, 
not II" 

Then Johnny said: " O mamma, dear! I'll be a drum- 
mer-boy." 
And when he learned to beat the drum, oh! great then 

was his joy. 
But soon he tired, as day by day he found that he the 
drum must play. 

Tra la la la la la la, etc. 
Then did little Johnny cry: " A drummer, no, not I! " 

Then Johnny said: *' A trumpeter is what I want to be.'* 
And when the trumpet he could blow, oh ! great then was 

his glee ; 
And so from morning until night he blew the trumpet 
with delight, — 

Toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot! 
Toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot ! 
Then did little Johnny cry: " A trumpter, yes, am I! " 

All of this was carried out with appropriate 
action, the children all joining in the chorus, — 
much to the amusement of the older people. At 
the close, Angelina ran into the midst of the 
crowd and exclaimed : " Why should not we, all 
of us, have the old game of — 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 241 

"Barberry Bush? 

" One stands in the middle, as I have placed 
myself, for the Barberry Bush, and the rest must 
join hands and dance around me, singing, — 

" * Here we go round the Barberry Bush, 
Here we go round the Barberry Bush, 
So early Monday morning.' " 

Angelina carried her party along with her into 
the larger room, all singing, and then went on 
with the different representations of the game, 
beginning, — 

" This is the way we wash our clothes, 
We wash our clothes, we wash our clothes, 
This is the way we wash our clothes 
So early Monday morning." 

And going on through " wringing " and " hang- 
ing out " to " ironing the clothes," making the 
motions for this with the right foot acting as 
flat-iron. The " Barberry Bush " then went on 
to suggest other pantomime, including, — 

" This is the way we go to school. 
We go to school, we go to school; " 

ending at last with all clapping hands and sing- 
ing,— 

*' This is the way we end our play, 
We end our play, we end our play. 
This is the way we end our play 
So early Monday morning. ' ' 
16 



242 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

One of the guests, Mr. Preston, gave a descrip- 
tion of some games he had seen played by the 
colored children in South Carolina, where the 
songs formed the greater part of the play, sung 
with much action. 

Mr. Wyllis, when he found that Mr. Preston 
was from Philadelphia, said : " We have now an 
opportunity to play a game I saw described the 
other day in a New York newspaper." He drew 
from his pocket-book a " cutting " from a news- 
paper, which described thus the game of — 

Ancestors. 

" A new game at Newport this year is called 
' Ancestors.' It is played by seven people, one 
of whom must be from Philadelphia. The Phila- 
delphian is placed in the centre of a circle formed 
by the other six players, and tells stories about 
his family. The others try to believe him, and 
the first one who believes wins the game." 

" Let us play it, by all means, though I never 
heard of it before," exclaimed Mr. Preston, placing 
himself in the middle of the company. 

Six of the party were chosen to form a special 
circle about him, and he proceeded to tell some 
stories of his grandfathers and great-grand- 
fathers. Gradually one after another left the 
circle, till only one remained. 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 243 

" One of my ancestors," Mr. Preston con- 
tinued, " has travelled over the world, jotting 
down everything, his words read and valued 
by everybody, — indeed, I don't believe there 's 
a word you read any day of your life but came 
originally from him." 

" Ah ! " exclaimed Mr. Chester, who was the 
last of the " believers " to remain, " you must 
mean A. Pen. But I can't believe you are de- 
scended from the celebrated William Penn, 
much as I esteem you." 

And the game ended. 

" This reminds me," said Mr. Fortescue, " of 
an old game, ' Throw a Light,' which depended 
upon a play upon words, and which we kept up 
as a favorite game until we had used up, I be- 
lieve, all the words that have double meanings 
in the English language." 

" Oh, yes, let us try it ! " said Aspasia ; and 
in answer to some questions upon the game, she 
replied : " This is the game of — 

" Throw a Light. 

" One of the company must think of a word 
that has a variety of meanings, and must begin 
to describe it, personally, as if he were the object 
himself, — now with one, now with another of 
its meanings. Any one in the company who 



244 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

guesses the word, or has the slightest suspicion 
of it, must take up and go on with this descrip- 
tion, never actually betraying the word, but 
even trying to veil it to puzzle the rest; and 
this must be kept up till everybody has guessed 
the word." 

Eodney Owens began : " I am one of two ; 
much revered, and also much abused and knocked 
about." 

" You used to be on every table and under," 
said Angelina, who had already detected the word. 

" On the dinner-table," answered Rodney. 

" But now you are somewhat divided," said 
Aspasia. 

" And very much dreaded in essence by ilivalid 
children," said Mr. Chester. 

" I wish ours would stay on our chairs ! " ex- 
claimed Mrs. Fortescue. 

" But it would be very impolite if mine ' stayed 
on ' my head in company," said Mr. Preston. 

" I don't exactly see the two," said Cecilia 
Owens ; " I know them as four." 

'' That is because you do not study the 
heavens," said her brother. 

" One of the two is known in the ' Course of 
Time,' " said Mr. Fortescue. 

" Both precede the Crab," said Eustace Brun- 
ton. 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 245 

" And follow the ' Ram and the Bull,' " said 
Mr. Erastus. 

" It is all now quite too plain," said Mrs. For- 
tescue ; " everybody has guessed it." 

" I have not guessed it at all ! " Arthur Ches- 
ter lamented. " What does ' one of two ' mean ? " 

Aspasia explained that the word upon which 
this kind of light was " thrown " was Castor, 
" You remember," she continued, " that ' Castor 
and Pollux ' are the names of ' the Twins ' among 
the constellations." 

" Ah, yes ! " exclaimed Arthur ; " the Ram, the 
Bull, the heavenly Twins." 

" And there was an old poem, called ' The 
Course of Time,' by one Pollock," continued 
Aspasia, in her explanation. 

" But how could he stay on Mr. Preston's 
head ? " persisted Arthur. 

" Did you never hear a hat called a ' castor ' 
before ? " asked his father. 

" I suppose because ' castor ' is the Latin for 
' beaver,' explained Mr. Fortescue. 

But Tom Fortescue now stirred up the party 
with the game of — 

United States Mails. 

This game is a very lively one for a family or 
party composed of persons of all ages. A large 



246 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

room is needed, from which as much of the fur- 
niture as possible should be removed. This being 
done, chairs should be placed at about equal dis- 
tances from each other around the room, one 
chair for each of the persons who play, with one 
single exception. The one left standing places 
himself in the centre of the room and requests 
each of the persons seated to take a name of 
some city in the United States. They then 
name themselves accordingly, as, for instance, 
Boston, Chicago, New York, Baltimore, etc. The 
person standing in the middle of the floor, and 
reminding each person of his city name, will now 
begin to call as follows : " Chicago to Boston," 
or " Chicago to Philadelphia," etc. The persons 
bearing these names must thereupon exchange 
seats, and do it quickly, because the person 
standing up has a right to take either seat thus 
vacated, if he can catch it in transit. After 
calling four or five single exchanges of this sort, 
the caller will give the words " General delivery." 
Thereupon everybody must exchange his seat for 
some other, and in the general scramble the caller, 
if he is quick, will catch a seat, and some one 
else will be left out, and the game goes on. 

A large party joined in this with great live- 
liness, till suddenly it was proposed to change 
it to — 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 247 

Stage-Coach. 

This is played in the same way ; but each player 
takes the name of some part of a Stage-Coach, or 
the name of one of the passengers, or of the bag- 
gage, or anything connected with a Stage-Coach. 
The player in the middle of the floor tells a story, 
bringing in, in quick succession, all the names of 
the rest of the players, and each one, when his 
name is called, gets up and wheels round and 
sits down again. When " Stage-Coach " is called, 
each person gets up and turns round in this way ; 
when the " Whole team " is mentioned, everybody 
changes place and takes a fresh seat, leaving one 
standing, who has to remain and go on with the 
story. 

Eustace Brunton placed himself in the centre, 
and collected the names of the large party who 
joined in the game. Even Mrs. Brunton was 
persuaded to join. She took the name of the 
" White Mountains," thinking she would not 
often be moved. Eustace began with the follow- 
ing story, which shows, in italics, the names of 
the different members of the party : — 

" We were all travelling in the White Moun- 
tains [poor Mrs. Brunton got up from her easy- 
chair painfully, to whirl round], and we hired 
a Stage-Coach [the whole company whirled 



248 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

round] , to take us from the Glen House to the 
Tip-top. We had in the Stage- Coach^ Mrs. Plim- 
limmins, Mr. Plimlimmins^ Four Little Plimlim- 
minses, each with his India Mubher-Boots, an Old 
Lady with Six Hand-Bags^ Umbrella, Shawl- 
Strap, Lunch-Box, and Shade-Hat in her hands. 
Two young Harvard Students^ an Elderly Gen- 
tleman in Speetacles^^ etc. 

He went on enumerating the different char- 
acters, setting them all in motion, with frequent 
references to the Stage-Coach ; thus closing : 

" In looking out of the window, the Elderly 
Gentleman dropped his Spectacles on the Tire of 
the Back Bight-Hand Wheel. It was supposed 
that one of the Spokes had broken. ' Which 
SpoJce ? ' exclaimed Mr. Plimlimmins, and every 
Lady Passenger screamed. All Four Horses 
leaped on one side, and The Whole Team went 
into the ditch." 

The game was carried on until the elders were 
quite exhausted, and found it was time for the 
young folks to go home. A sedate party had 
been playing " Cayenne " in the corner of a quiet 
room, and another party had learned from one of 
the guests how to play a new " Patience," called 
" Four Fans of Five." 

Mr. Preston, meanwhile, described a game that 
he had seen played by the colored children at the 
South, called — 



FIFTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 249 

Uncle Sam. 

This begins with the singing of one voice, — 

*' Uncle Sam, you know ? " 
A chorus takes up the strain of — 

" Right on the stormy bank! 

First voice. " Ask my Lord what shall I do 
Right on the stormy bank." 

Then follows a dialogue between the Solo and 
Chorus. 

" Have you been to his funeral ? " 

" Yes, ma'am." 

" How long it was ? " 

" So long." 

"Hadthey any coffee?" 

" Yes, ma'am." 

" How sweet it was ? " 

" So sweet." 

The game goes on by describing new delica- 
cies, which are asked for and commented upon 
in turn ; or, as they describe it, " You can ask 
for plenty of things if you want them." 

Miss Margaret Lester, in her corner, had been 
describing her game of Patience under the name 
of — 

Four Fans of Five. 

" You lay out your cards," she explained, " be- 
ginning with four fans of five cards ; then you 



250 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

dispose of the rest of the cards in fans of four 
cards each, arranging each pile so that you can 
recognize the cards below. You are permitted 
to move any top card from one pile to the top of 
another pile if it is of the same suit, or can count 
with it in sequence up or down. For instance," 
she added, in explanation, " you can move this 
eight of clubs to the seven of the same, or you 
could move the seven to the eight. But here it 
is better to move the eight, for it reveals a king 
of clubs that you can move to an ace of the 
same. This works well, as this reveals a seven 
of spades that can be moved to an eight of spades. 
Your first object is to clear up one pile, because 
you are at liberty to form a new pile in the same 
place, always keeping twelve piles. Your final 
object is to bring all the cards of each suit in a 
pile by themselves, in sequence ; but," she said, 
as she quickly went on with the game, " you see 
each pile is differently formed. We have here 
succeeded : but this pile of clubs happens to 
have the ace at the top, and the two of clubs 
below ; in the spades, the knave is at the top, 
tlie queen below ; in the diamonds, the six at 
the top, and the five below ; while the hearts 
pile has the ace at the top, and the two below." 
This proved a very attractive game. 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 

Composite Photograph. — Cento Verses. — Conse- 
quences. — Symphonious Verses. — What Is My 
Thought Like ? — Acting Charades. — Games of 
Patience. — Spanish Backgammon. — Farewell. 

A LARGE number of guests assembled at 
Mrs. Brunton's. After the first greet- 
ings, they were taken to a table, where a 
stereoscope was placed. 

" My Fagot," exclaimed Hector Brunton, as 
the different friends presented themselves, "is 
a picture of two of the members of our party, 
which you will all be glad to see, and which I am 
able to show you as the result of one method of 
making a ^ Composite Photograph,' described in 
an interesting article by Professor John T. Stod- 
dard, in the March * Century ; ' and I will give his 
account of the method I have acted upon : — 

"Composite Photograph. 

"'The two photographs, or engravings, which 
are to be brought together, must, of course, be 
selected with reference to the position of the 
head, though they need not be of exactly the 



252 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

same size. Holding one in each hand, as one 
looks through the glasses of the instrument, one 
readily finds the positions in which they must be 
placed for the images to blend. But unless the 
observer's eyes are equally good, and he has the 
habit of using both equally, there will be in this 
experiment a plain case of ' prepotency ; ' and 
even with good eyes there will often be noticed 
a curious struggle for mastery between the 
components.' 

"After a little study," continued Hector, "I 
have placed the photographs of Mrs. Chester and 
Mrs. Fortescue in our stereoscope here. Happily 
I could find two of the same size, looking in the 
same direction, with eyes on the same line, 
etc., and I think you will all be pleased with the 
pictures of our two friends combined. This 
frame against which they are placed can be 
moved backward and forward to secure the 
focus desired." 

A great surprise did indeed await those 
"whose eyes were equally good, and were in 
the habit of using both equally;" for they be- 
held a very lovely face, containing the most beau- 
tiful traits of Mrs. Chester and Mrs. Fortescue. 

" I thought they were both beautiful women 
before," said Mr. Brunton ; " but in this picture 
they seem to rival themselves." 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 2C3 

It was a striking fact, which everybody noticed, 
that the photograph, as it was thus blended, re- 
presented some one in perfect health ; but Mrs. 
Chester was quite an invalid, and Mrs. Fortes- 
cue's face was now unusually thin, — indeed, she 
was going away in hope of improving her health. 

" What a lovely face ! " exclaimed Cecilia 
Owens ; "it has Mrs. Fortescue's exquisite 
mouth, with Mrs. Chester's full, dimpled cheeks, 
and Mrs. Chester's large brown eyes appear 
under Mrs. Fortescue's classic brow ! " 

" I should have to run away from such admi- 
ration," said Mrs. Fortescue ; " but I must say 
there is something very fascinating in seeing 
myself so glorified." 

" It is very interesting," said Mr. Fortescue, 
" to move the photographs slightly, to obtain the 
case of ' prepotency ' that Professor Stoddard 
describes." 

The picture was shown to each new comer, 
and, as a *' parting present," the regular mem- 
bers of the Fagot-party were promised a " com- 
posite photograph " of these two favorites of their 
happy company. Some very interesting trials 
were made with other photographs. 

" We have been thinking," said Aspasia, " that 
the Fagots presented to-night should be of the 
sort that might be useful for our travellers who 



254 FAGOTS FOB THE FIRESIDE, 

are to leave us so soon ; and I understand that a 
number of the old games are to be offered to us, 
such as can be easily played in long journeys." 

" The drier the Fagots are, and the older, the 
easier to burn," said Mr. Chester. 

Aunt Cecilia hoped they would not forget to try 

Cento Verses. 

Each member of the company sits down to 
write a poem, not of original lines, but taken 
from some well-known poets, for each line must 
be that of a different author, usually following 
the metre suggested by the first line. 

We give one of the ^' classics," which was first 
offered, by way of example ; and the rest were 
quickly written by some of the ready writers : 

" On Linden when the sun was low," 

** A frog he would a wooing go; '* 

** He sighed a sigh, and breathed a prayer," — 

*' None but the brave deserve the fair." 

(^Original.^ 

** Gentle shepherd, tell me where '* 

*' She drew him by a single hair,'* 

*' Over some wide-watered shore," 

** And his name shall be lost for evermore." 

*' The father sat upon the shore," 
** Swinging slow with sullen roar," 
'* And by him sported, on the green," 
** My beloved, my Geraldine." 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS, 255 

*' Here awa', there awa% wandering Willie," 
" Thus murmured a Peri beneath the dark sea; " 
" Hey-diddle-diddle, the cat's in the fiddle," 
*' Like a thing in the desert, alone in its glee." 

** At morn the blackcock trims his jetty wings," 

" And says, remembrance saddening o'er each brow," 

'* Awake, my St. John, leave all meaner things." 

" Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow." 

" A gentle knight was pricking o*er the plain," 
** Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow; " 
*' Gums and pomatums did his flight restrain," 
** For who would suffer, being here below? " 

" I am afraid this requires too much brain for 
the deck of a steamer ! " sighed Mrs. Fortescue. 

" But no mind is demanded for my contri- 
bution," said Cecilia Owens ; " it is the dear 
old game of — 

" Consequences. 

" Take a large sheet of old-fashioned letter- 
paper, open it, and mark it down into six col- 
umns, — three on the first page, three on the 
next. Write headings to these columns in the 
following order : Her Name, His Name, Place of 
Meeting, What He Said, What She Said, What 
the World Said ; then turn over the sheet and 
write on the back, at the head of the page, the 
Consequences. One of the company must then 
quickly write in the first column all the names 



256 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

of the ladies of the party, and of others who are 
well known by those present, putting them in 
any order that comes easiest, the rest of the 
company suggesting names also. This column 
is turned back out of sight. For the next col- 
umn the ' male ' names are taken, as suggested 
by the party assembled ; and the other columns 
are filled out in the same way, according to their 
headings, each one turned over when finished. 
After the final list of Consequences is finished, 
the whole is read across." 

" In this way," said Mr. Chester, " Cecilia 
Owens and Oscar Wilde Met Abroad. He Said : 
' How remarkable ! ' She Said : ' I cannot tell 
a lie ! ' The World Said : * Just what I ex- 
pected ; ' and the Consequences were, ' They came 
home again/ " 

"I should think," said Rodney Owens, " if 
you want a game for amusement on board the 
steamer, where you have no pencils nor paper, 
no properties, and no — brain, that you would 
like ' Symphonious Yerses ; ' you probably know 
how to make them under a different name. 

"Symphonious Verses. 

" You give a line which must be carefully 
selected, for it must end with a word to which 
you must not only make a rhyme, but use a 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 257 

word that sounds precisely the same, but with 
an entirely different meaning. 

" Here is a poem, made on this principle, that 
is usually given as an example : — 

*' They sat side by side, 
And he sighed, and she sighed: 

* On my heart is such a weight,^ 
And he waited, and she waited. 

* At last I 've bolder grown/ 
And he groaned, and she groaned; 

* You shall have your private gig,' 
And he giggled, and she giggled. 
She said, ' My dearest Luke! ' 
And he looked, and she looked 
And said, ' I will if thou wilt.' 
And he wilted, and she wilted." 

This passage was so inspiring that the follow- 
ing additions were made : — 

" Then he fell on his knees, 
And she sneezed, and he sneezed; 
He gave her a white, white rose. 
And he rose, and she rose. 
' You forgot my rose cold ! ' 
Thus she scolded, and he scolded. 
He had received a dangerous wound, 
And he swooned, and she swooned." 

" One might go on forever," said Mr. Ches- 
ter, " if the voyage lasted long enough ; and it 
requires about as much brain as our old favor- 
ite game of — 

17 



258 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

What Is My Thought Like? 

The company were now summoned to another 
room to witness some Charades. Mr. Chester's 
favorite game, however, was played in intervals 
between scenes of the Charades. 

" I approve of What Is My Thought Like ? " 
said Mr. Chester, " because one gathers up fresh 
conundrums for future, impromptu, use." 

" I always wondered where you found your 
inexhaustible flow," said Mr. Fortescue. 

" What Is My Thought Like ? " asked Aunt 
Cecilia. 

Various answers were givenj and each person 
was obliged afterward to explain why his an- 
swer was like the original " Thought." These 
were given in the pauses necessary for the prepa- 
ration of the Charades. Aunt Cecilia's Thought 
was like " Our Fagot Parties." The answers 
given were : " It is like Hector's dog ; " " Like 
the Public Library;" "The Ocean;" "Next 
Week's Steamer ; " " Like Charon ; " " Like the 
Fortescue Family." 

The reasons for the resemblance of these an- 
swers to the original " Thought " were given in 
turn as follows : " Because they both have a 
Bark ; " " Both have Branches ; " " The Ocean 
is made of Billows^ the Fagots of Billets ; " 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE. OF FAGOTS. 259 

" The Fortescues Light Up both ; " " Because he 
had his Styx always there ; " " Because we must 
say Good-hy to both." 

The Charades were announced by Eodney 
Owens. " I have been requested," he said, " to 
give the following rules for — 

" Acting Charades. 

" On common occasions it is best not to 
attempt too much in elaborate dress, unless, in- 
deed, the whole thing has been planned before- 
hand, when everything will be laid out and ready 
for use. But the Charades are quite as likely to 
be amusing if the dress and scenery are of the 
most impromptu sort, — a coal-hod serving for 
a hero's helmet, a feather duster transforming a 
small boy into a bird. 

" It is well to select some word that will sug- 
gest one or more dramatic scenes ; and if the 
troop of actors is large, they must remember that 
they are not all to speak at once ; also, they must 
be careful to place themselves where they can 
be easily seen and heard, and never turn their 
backs to the audience, except when absolutely 
necessary." 

The first Charade was indeed impromptu. It 
was announced as consisting of a word of three 
syllables, to be represented in three scenes. 



260 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Aspasia and Angelina were discovered, when 
the curtain was drawn, as summer artists, with 
their easels and paint-boxes, preparing to make 
a sketch of a yoke of oxen, represented by Rod- 
ney Owens and Jack Chester, two younger boys 
acting as hind-legs. Eustace Brunton, who per- 
formed the part of " boy " in charge of the oxen, 
found great difficulty in keeping them quiet, while 
at the same time he was helping the artists to 
climb the library table which served as a stone 
wall, on which they were to sit in the corner of 
the supposed field. The scene was very amusing, 
Aspasia being much occupied in keeping off a 
supposed fly from her supposed oxen, spending 
much of her time in getting up and down from 
her supposed stone wall. 

The curtain was closed, then drawn again for 
the second and third syllables of the word. The 
same scenes appeared, with the same struggles of 
the artists and the same amusing difficulties in 
keeping the oxen quiet. 

" That forward ox," said Mrs. Chester, " seems 
especially forward, and must be the hero of the 
occasion." 

The curtain was again closed, and drawn once 
more, to show the representation of the whole 
word to be guessed. It was the same scene, once 
more represented. 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 261 

" What can it be ? " "- Is that the whole ? " 
exclaimed one and another. 

" The ox is surely the principal character," 
said Mr. Fortescue. 

" Oh, I see ! " exclaimed Mr. Chester ; " the 
first scene, ' Ox;^ the second, ' the same Again ; ' 
the whole, ' Oxygen ' / " 

This, however, was only an impromptu Charade 
before the presentation of one more elaborate, of 
a word of three syllables, in four scenes. In the 
first scene the stage was decorated with large 
plants in pots, — palms and other tropical veget- 
ables, — in the midst of which there came a train 
of young girls dancing, and one or two strange 
beings with hairy costumes (" circular " cloaks, 
worn with the fur outside), and horns (made 
of stiff brown paper) on their heads. These 
.pranced about in a strange, wild, uncouth man- 
ner around another who came in a furry mantle, 
with a pipe at his mouth, and all danced to the 
music of the piano played by Clara Fortescue. 

" There is no doubt about the principal char- 
acter here," whispered Mr. Chester, " for that 
tin pan on his head betrays him ; but I would 
not shorten the scene by guessing him." 

" Clara has made a good selection of a tune," 
said Mr. Fortescue. 

She was playing, " The Campbells are Coming." 



262 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

" All right," said Mr. Chester ; " for doubtless 
they had camels in that time and clime." 

In the next scene the palms and other plants 
had retired to the background, and the front of 
the stage had a deserted air. An old man, with 
long white beard, was standing by a boat (an 
oval clothes-basket), holding an oar in his hand. 
One by one came sad-looking shades in white 
garments, and were admitted into the boat and 
ferried across the room, with many angry ges- 
ticulations of the old man. They were left on 
the other side, and he returned to receive the 
new comers that pressed on, hidden in drapery 
of long sheets, with pillow-cases flung over their 
heads. Not a word was spoken. 

" If this were the whole," said Mr. Chester, " I 
should call this ' PaniomimQ ; ' but this old man 
is not Tom, and can't be anything but Charon." 

It was afterward discovered that the word 
represented was '* oar." 

The next scene had again a background of 
plants; but in front of it was an interesting 
group. Clara Fortescue evidently represented 
Yenus, for by her side was Cupid (Cecilia 
Owens) with bow and arrow, who transfixed 
Mars as he entered. Vulcan was in the fore- 
ground pounding away on some coal-hods and 
blowers. He stopped, however, to fit Mars for 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 263 

Ins armor with a helmet (a tin pan, which he 
pounded on with a hammer), and a large tray 
for a shield; and the scene closed. 

The pause before the next scene allowed plenty 
of time for wild guessing ; but no satisfactory an- 
swer was reached. But the last scene betrayed 
the whole. Cecilia Owens introduced herself as 
the original Mrs. Jarley, stating that her occu- 
pation had been so seized upon by modern imita- 
tors that she had been obliged to become a 
show-woman of another sort. In front of the 
stage appeared a moving Panorama^ formed in 
this way : Two tall young men stood as pillars 
at some distance from each other, and around 
them had been wound a long gray shawl, on the 
front of which was shown a series of pictures 
that, by the motion of the shawl from right to 
left, appeared and disappeared, a fresh series of 
pictures constantly turning up to take the place 
of the first ; for, during the whole, Sally Chester 
was on her knees behind the shawl, taking off 
the old pictures, cut from illustrated papers, and 
pinning on fresh ones, which, as the young men 
revolved, appeared in front to be commented 
upon by the witty Mrs. Jarley, who drew forth 
continued applause by her remarks upon the 
different scenes presented. 

During the pauses between the scenes Mr. 



264 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Erastus discoursed a little upon Charades, and 
gave a description of one for beginners. 

An Easy Charade (found in the word " Pe- 
nelope "). — This has frequently been done, but 
it can always be varied by the skill of the 
actors. 

The first scene can be made very effective by 
representing Penn's treaty with the Indians. A 
group of Indians can be made very picturesque 
sitting round the Quaker-clad William Penn. 
This scene can be done in pantomime, or rep- 
resented simply in a tableau. 

The second scene can be varied to suit the 
audience and the performers. There can be the 
" mistaken elopement scene " of the lover with 
the old aunt, or the " discovered elopement," in 
either of which good scenic effects can be pro- 
duced by having the kerosene lamp represent 
the moon, and a screen to answer for the sides 
of the house. The heads of the different mem- 
bers of the family appear at the top of the 
screen to converse with those below. 

The third scene, which describes the whole 
word, is the one on which the greatest care 
should be lavished. The costumes should all 
be classic. Penelope should be at her embroid- 
ery-frame at the opening of the scene ; one of 
the small boys should represent the dog Argos ; 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 265 

another, as Minerva, in the form of a bird, look- 
ing down upon the scene. A large number of 
Suitors should be present, and all should try the 
bow, which only Ulysses can stretch. It is a 
great addition if all the conversation is carried 
on entirely in — impromptu — hexameters. 

In the course of the evening a number of 
Games of Patience were collected for the travel- 
lers' use or for summer evenings, which we give 
here. The first was named in honor of Miss Les- 
ter, who introduced it, and was known as — 

Margie's. — This game is played with two 
packs of cards. Begin by dealing out a row 
of thirteen cards, face up ; place the fourteenth 
card below this row. This card is to serve 
as a " starter," and also the seven others of 
the same rank of the different suits, whenever 
they appear ; and upon each is to be formed an 
ascending sequence, alternating in color. For in- 
stance, if the fourteenth card should be the four 
of hearts, it becomes the first of a sequence, and 
on it must be placed, whenever it appears, a 
black five, afterward a red six, and so on, the 
pile ending in a red three. After placing the 
first starter, if the card at the right of the upper 
row of thirteen cards is available, it can be* used ; 
if not, proceed to place six cards in a row below, 
which are to be the foundations of six reserve 



266 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

piles. On these foundations, cards can be placed 
in reverse sequence ; for instance, a king on an 
ace, a queen on a king, but alternating in color. 
These cards can be used (the upper card of each 
pile) whenever needed. Continue to play out 
the cards, making a talon, or stock, of such cards 
as cannot be used on any of the piles. Be care- 
ful, however, always to use in preference the 
card at the right of the upper row, as the diffi- 
culty in succeeding in this game lies in the fact 
that many useful cards are shut up in this row, 
and must be released as soon as possible. It 
requires some skill to keep a place for these 
cards to be used when released. The talon, 
or stock, can be turned once. 

Mr. Fortescue was interested in a game of 
Patience, as it was pronounced to be of the 
style of " Idiot's Joy," — soothing in its nature, 
and in the rank of the " everlasting " games. It 
was called — 

Valentine. — To be played with one pack. 
Lay down four cards in a row. With these and 
one you turn up in your hand, make piles, if pos- 
sible, as follows : Lay a higher card on a lower, 
and push a lower under a higher card of the 
same suit. For example, a three of spades can 
be put under the four of the same suit, and if 
you turn up a five of spades, it can be placed on 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 267 

top. When all is done that can be done, lay 
down the fifth card and pile up the rest together, 
in their piles, from left to riglit, and put .these 
cards under the pack in your hand, first looking 
to see if the next card to be turned up can be 
added to the piles. The fifth card now is placed 
for the first of a new set of four, and you 
proceed as before. You keep on in this way 
till you find your cards coming out in their 
suits in sequence — if you succeed. It is well 
to experiment with this game by making the 
piles in sequence, without regard to suits. This 
is much easier, and gives you courage to play 
it in suits, though you may spend the whole 
evening over it. 

Another simple game of Patience resembles 
this, but can be played more quickly, called — 

Egbert. — To be played with one pack. Turn 
up one card on the table ; if the next card ranks 
either just below or above it, put it on. For 
instance, on a ten you can place either a nine or 
a knave ; on a king you can put either an ace or 
a queen ; on the queen you must then put a knave 
or another king ; and so on. Cards that cannot 
be so used are placed in a stock, which can be 
turned twice. If you have not then all your 
cards in a pile, your Patience has failed. 

Another Patience game given was called — 



268 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

Five Faces. — To be played with one pack. 
Deal the cards into five piles, face down. Turn 
up the first pile. Discard all the cards till you 
reach a face-card, or honor. (Ten counts as an 
honor.) Leave the pile face up. Treat the next 
pile in the same way, discarding till you come to 
a face-card of the same suit as the one forming 
the upper card of the first pile. Continue in the 
same way with the remaining piles. Then put 
all the piles together into one pack, beginning 
with the right, one on the other. Turn this 
pack, and deal the cards out into four piles. 
Proceed with these as* before, discarding in each 
pile all cards till you reach a face-card of the same 
suit as before. Pile up again in the same way, 
and deal into three piles. Proceed as before ; 
then deal into two piles. After thus dealing 
and discarding, and taking up the two piles, if 
the Patience is successful, you will find in your 
hand to deal out in one pile only the five honors, 
or face-cards, of the original suit. 

Great Expectations — Is similar to Five 
Faces, but even simpler. It should be played 
with a piquet or euchre pack. Lay down three 
cards, face up. Remove all the cards of some 
one suit, — clubs, for example. Continue deal- 
ing out three cards, to form three piles, remov- 
ing the clubs till you have done this five times, 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 269 

not filling in the gaps made. Shuffle into the 
pack, the cards remaining on the table, leaving 
out the clubs. Repeat this process twice.- All 
the clubs should then be found in a pile by them- 
selves, if the game has succeeded. 

Mr. Fortescue was also pleased with the game 
which had the mystical name of — 

One on Many, Many on One ; or. One on One. 
— To be played with two packs. Lay out three 
rows, eleven cards in each row. Use every ace 
as it appears as foundation for ascending se- 
quence. The cards on the lower row can be 
used for foundations for reverse sequence. A 
pile of many cards thus placed can be trans- 
ferred to a card one higher than its lower card. 
Try to keep the piles in sequence, not interfering 
with any other pile ; that is, if one pile ends with 
a seven, be careful not to mingle the six needed 
with another pile. The lower cards can always 
be used for these sequences, and when a lane, or 
gap, is made to the upper row, a fresh card can 
be placed there from the talon, or stock, but not 
from the lower row. As the kings cannot thus 
be moved, it is well to use them as foundations 
for sequences. The gaps in the upper row should 
not be too hastily filled ; but be careful to put 
there, when possible, some card one higher than 
the under card of same sequence on the lower 



270 FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE. 

rows, so that you can free such piles and bring 
them to the upper row. Observe the rule that 
gives the name, never putting one pile on an- 
other pile, nor can you divide a pile ; it must all 
be moved at once. 

Mr. Jones gave Mrs. Fortescue the rules for 

Spanish Backgammon, or Jacquet. 

In this form of Backgammon there is no taking 
up, and one man holds a point from his adversary. 
The players place their men on the farthest point 
in the table opposite their own, — that is, the 
one they are to throw off from, — in five piles, of 
three men in each pile. Each player throws one 
die for the first move. When this is decided, the 
player beginning takes one man, and moves it as 
many points on its way round to his own table as 
his throw, with the two dice, allows. He must 
take this first man into his own table before he 
can start another man. After this, he must 
bring along the rest of his men as fast as pos- 
sible. When all the men are in, they are to be 
thrown off, as in other games of Backgammon. 
The loser has three points counted against him 
for every one of his men still left in his first 
table ; two for any left in the second table ; 
one for any left in the last, when his adversary 
has won the game. 



SIXTEENTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS. 271 

The excitement consists in blocking your op- 
ponent, which, as there is no taking up, you can 
easily do with one man ; and your skill is shown 
by blocking your adversary, while you keep your 
own road open. 

Another Charade was then hastily given, the 
first scene representing a Fair with an amus- 
ing " take-off " of the popular charity-fairs. 
The second was a Well scene, the acting out of 
the old story of the two girls, one of whom 
dropped pearls and diamonds as she talked ; 
the other, frogs and toads. But for the whole, 
all the actors came from the stage to give a 
sad Farewell to the friends who were to leave, 
and to the last of the Fagot-parties. 



INDEX. 



Acting Ballads, described, 146. 
Acting Charades, Rules for, 259. 
Acting Proverbs, 157. 
Alliteration, a game, 83, 164. 
Alliteration, or Siege of Belgrade, 

167. 
Alphabet Story, 161. 
Anagrams, 21, 22, 24. 
Anagrams solved, 43, 58. 
An Austrian Army, 165. 
Ancestors, 242. 
Androscoggin, 44. 
Answers to Charades, 66, 68, 160. 
Apprentice my Son, 234. 

Ballads, Acted, 135-142. 
Barberry Bush, 241. 
Bean-Bag Contest, 120. 
Beasts, Birds, and Fishes, 231. 
Beheaded Rhymes, 229. 
Buried Cities,' 191. 
Buz-Fiz, 14. 

Capping Verses, 236. 

Cards for a number of plaj'ers : — 

Cayenne, 147. 

Comet Trick with Cards, 94. 

Domino Whist, 202. 

Doubt It ! 175. 

Grabouge. 197. 

Jacoby, 199. 

Kapak, or Kopak, 204. 

Patent Medicines, 176. 

Photograph Whist, 207. 

Stop, 108. 

Three-handed Whist, 198. 
Cards (continued), Games of 
Patience : — 

Boarded, for two players, 200. 



Five Faces, 268. 

Four Fans of Five, 249. 

German Constitution, 22. 

Great Expectations, 268. 

Idiot's Joy, 56. 

Margie's, 265. 

OneonMany,ManyonOne,269. 

Robert, 267. 

Valentine, 266. 
Cat's Concert, 231. 
Cento Verses, 254. 
Charades, 48, 67, 88, 128. 
Charades, Acted, 260, 261, 271. 
Clothes-pins Contest, 122. 
Clumps, or Two Captains, 187. 
Composite Photograph, 251. 
Consequences, 255. 
Conundrums, 42, 54, 67, 82, 127, 

128. 
Crambo, 89. 
Criticisms, 59, 
Cum-je-cum, 233. 

Decorative Sisters, The, 135. 
Dirge of the Tadpoles, 140. 
Doublets, 73. 

Doublets, Examples of, 77, 78. 
Doublets, Solutions of, 112. 
Dramatis Personte, 10. 
Dream of Fair Women, 142. 
Dumb Crambo, 96. 

Easy Charade, described, 264. 
Essa}"- on Fagots, 35. 
Eyes Puzzle, 210. 

Falls of Niagara. A Ballad. 
141. 

Farewell, an Acted Charade, 271. 



274 



INDEX. 



Farmer, The, 239. 

Farmyard, The, 214. 

Five Faces (Patience), 268. 

Five Points, or Rice Game, 20» 

Fling the Towel, 212. 

Four Fans of Five (Patience), 249. 

Fox and Geese, or Tierce, 79. 

German Constitution- (Pa- 
tience), 22. 
Going to Jerusalem, 113. 
(iorilla, 113. 

Hanging, 39. 
Hide in Sight, 105. 
Historical Pictures, 16. 
How Do You Go ? 55. 
Huckle-buckle-Beanstalk, 106. 
Hunt the Feather, 190. 

Idiot's Joy (Patience), 56. 
Illustrated Proverbs, 153. 
I Love My Love, 170. 
Impromptu Newspaper, 222. 
Initials, 192. 

Jacquet, or Spanish Backgam- 
mon, 270. 
Johnny's Trade, 239. 



Literati, 62 
Logomachy, 
102. 



or Word-Making, 



Magical Music, 211. 
Meal-bag Race, 117. 
Metamorphosis, 213. 
Minister's Cat, The, 82. 
Mosaics, 27. 
Mrs. Plinlimmins's Tea, 86. 

Nev^^spaper (impromptu), 222. 
No More — impromptu newspa- 
per, 223, etc. 
Novel (impromptu), 221. 

Pass the Quarter, 195. 
Patent Medicines (cards), 176. 
Photograph Whist, 207. 
Potato Race, 115. 
Problems, 128, 129. 



Problems, Solved, 130, 131. 
Proverbs, Acted, 157. 
Proverbs, Illustrated, 153. 
Proverbs, Suggested, 156. 
Put in a Proverb, 155. 

Queries, 178. 
Quotations, 124. 

Rice Game, or Five Points, 20. 
Riddles, 25, 86, 194. 
Riddle, answered, 88. 
Russian Scandal, 25. 

Sapolio, 216. 
Shadow Pantomime, 208. 
Shouting Poets, 123. 
Shouting Proverbs, 152. 
Sonnets, Writing, 36, 37, 38. 
Spanish Backgammon, or Jac- 
quet, 270. 

Tea-Kettle Game, 32. 

Theatrical Adjectives, 49. 

The Two Captains, or Clumps, 

187. 
Three-Handed Whist (cards), 198. 
Three-Legged Race, 118. 
Throw a Light, 243. 
Tierce, or Touch the Third, 79. 
Travelling Alphabet, 217. 
'T was 1 1^54. 
Twenty Questions, 185. 

Uncle Sam, 249. 
United States Mails, 245. 

Verbarium, 44. 

What is My Thought like? 

258. 
Whispers, 218. 
Who am I ? 173. 
Who are You ? 172. 
Wiggles, 100. 
Word -Making, or Logomachy, 

102. 
Writing Ballads, 133. 
Writing Sonnets, 36. 
Written Geography, 168. 



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